money gouging!!!

greg334

Veteran Expediter
No not screwing with the little guy, it is screwing with everyone. A great solution is to have a president who fights to stop funding all highways through the federal taxes and let the states deal with all of it.
 

Turtle

Administrator
Staff member
Retired Expediter
Everybody's getting in on the I-95 act.

As for stopping all federal funding of highways, and letting the states deal with it... if that were to happen, the Interstate system would be no more. States couldn't afford it, without tolling, and primarily the tolling of out-of-state vehicles who traverse the state without having to pay for the roads out of their federal taxes.
 

AMonger

Veteran Expediter
if this starts happening, we're going to have to implement toll surcharges.

--

You know the problem with bad cops? They make the other 5% look bad.
 

greg334

Veteran Expediter
Michigan has talked about toll roads but no one would be able to afford them so now the great brain trust up in lansing is talking about a combination of a 9 cent hike in fuel taxes (that doesn't include the 6% sales tax elimination) AND a $60 per vehicle registration increase for non-commercial vehicles with a $120 to $180 increase for commercial vehicles plus a number of fee increases. This comes on the heals of our first state surplus in 20 years.
 

cranis

Expert Expediter
Driver
What i am saying origanly is the beaurocrats pay. ever time the rates go up, the pay goes up..
 

layoutshooter

Veteran Expediter
Retired Expediter
"As for stopping all federal funding of highways, and letting the states deal with it... if that were to happen, the Interstate system would be no more. States couldn't afford it, without tolling, and primarily the tolling of out-of-state vehicles who traverse the state without having to pay for the roads out of their federal taxes."

Is this 100% correct? I was under the impression that some states get MORE federal money than they pay in and some get less. I don't know where Michigan stands on the end of the pipeline. Why take it out of the states at all? Does anyone really believe that the Feds have a "better idea" on what needs done?
 

Turtle

Administrator
Staff member
Retired Expediter
"As for stopping all federal funding of highways, and letting the states deal with it... if that were to happen, the Interstate system would be no more. States couldn't afford it, without tolling, and primarily the tolling of out-of-state vehicles who traverse the state without having to pay for the roads out of their federal taxes."

Is this 100% correct? I was under the impression that some states get MORE federal money than they pay in and some get less. I don't know where Michigan stands on the end of the pipeline. Why take it out of the states at all? Does anyone really believe that the Feds have a "better idea" on what needs done?
Yeah. It used to be (back in the early 50s) that the ration of Federal to State dollars was 50:50, then in the mid 50s that went up to 60:40. Then under Eisenhower's Interstate Construction Program, it moved to a 90:10 matching ration. (Out west, where there is less taxable public lands, it's 95:5).

While the states actually own and maintain the roads, it's the Federal government who funds them, because of a legitimate national interest.
 

layoutshooter

Veteran Expediter
Retired Expediter
Yeah. It used to be (back in the early 50s) that the ration of Federal to State dollars was 50:50, then in the mid 50s that went up to 60:40. Then under Eisenhower's Interstate Construction Program, it moved to a 90:10 matching ration. (Out west, where there is less taxable public lands, it's 95:5).

While the states actually own and maintain the roads, it's the Federal government who funds them, because of a legitimate national interest.


The Federal government should take over the interstates, including ownership and maintaining them. There should be one tax, paid for by everyone in the country to cover the costs. That tax can never be used for any other purpose. All other roads and bridges should be handled by the States to suit there need.
 

greg334

Veteran Expediter
You know that one of the issues that I see is there has been no stadards across the country. Roads built in ny are different than roads in michigan and the costs are not harmonized. For a midwest road costing $1M a mile while the same mile costs $2M a mile in nj it seems that the costs would would be nearly the same with the same specs.


On top of that the states are allowed to use the federal money for things other than roads.
 

layoutshooter

Veteran Expediter
Retired Expediter
You know that one of the issues that I see is there has been no stadards across the country. Roads built in ny are different than roads in michigan and the costs are not harmonized. For a midwest road costing $1M a mile while the same mile costs $2M a mile in nj it seems that the costs would would be nearly the same with the same specs.


On top of that the states are allowed to use the federal money for things other than roads.


The cost of the land is far different in NJ than Michigan. Federal road funds should ONLY be used for roads. Then again, government exists to "rob Peter to pay Paul".
 

greg334

Veteran Expediter
Cost of what land?

I'm talking about maintaining the roads, of which 99.9% of them already exsist.
 

layoutshooter

Veteran Expediter
Retired Expediter
Cost of what land?

I'm talking about maintaining the roads, of which 99.9% of them already exsist.

Sorry, I thought you were speaking of the cost per mile to build. The cost of maintaining roads can increase or decrease based on local weather, traffic volume etc. Labor costs vary greatly as well.
 
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