New Proposal for Funding Roads and Highways in WA

GL_Storm
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New Proposal for Funding Roads and Highways in WA

Post by GL_Storm » Thu Dec 15, 2022 3:10 pm

https://www.king5.com/article/news/loca ... e26e002ef0

Curious what people think about this. With the rise of electric cars, I think something like this is inevitable. Are there any reasonable alternatives?

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D-train
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Re: New Proposal for Funding Roads and Highways in WA

Post by D-train » Thu Dec 15, 2022 3:18 pm

Removes and incentive to switch to electric. More brilliant public policy. Try to get people to do something and then punish them for it.
dt

Mel Bradford
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Re: New Proposal for Funding Roads and Highways in WA

Post by Mel Bradford » Thu Dec 22, 2022 2:16 pm

Washington gas tax seems second only to California in amount.....$0.49 / gal gas. Apparently not enough for the spendthrifts of Olympia.

Consider the contrivance. 1.5 million people added to Washington roads since 2001. The steady growth is not birth rates per se. Its migration.
Population has doubled since 1978.

Then the need to appease the god of climate and the god of equity. Gods of the religion of socialism. The acolytes of the system push and suck at the same time. Make their declarations. Impune their imagined enemies and work in circles. Daily reviews by the talking heads lend credibility however fleeting. The high priest (Inslee) and his agents (congress) steal from the rest of the country in the form of subsidies to obey the national dictates of the three headed monster DOT, EPA, and DOE and their feral offspring. Self fulfilling prophecy of the passing.

Ergo...there is never enough tax. Backed into the system is the false sense of growth. For another day.

GL_Storm
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Re: New Proposal for Funding Roads and Highways in WA

Post by GL_Storm » Thu Dec 22, 2022 7:19 pm

Well, roads are paid for by taxes on fuel, which doesn't apply to electrics. But they still use the roads and there is an expected growth curve for electrics, which means there will be an increasing shortfall in the budget year over year if an alternative funding mechanism isn't implemented.

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gil
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Re: New Proposal for Funding Roads and Highways in WA

Post by gil » Fri Dec 23, 2022 1:01 am

It seems pretty clear to me that someone who uses the roads should pay their share. I'd like to see a per mile charge with some adjustment for vehicle weight (heavier vehicles cause more wear and tear) and a surcharge if you want to use studded tires. Taxes on fuel are imprecise, and we recognize that with giving rebates on fuel taxes to farmers and ranchers who are driving vehicles on private land. But I don't see any reason to give electric vehicles a free ride. If you want to encourage EVs, there are other ways.

And by the way, fuel taxes pay for a significant amount, but not all, of road costs. General taxes such as property and sales taxes subsidize roads.

GL_Storm
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Re: New Proposal for Funding Roads and Highways in WA

Post by GL_Storm » Fri Dec 23, 2022 8:22 am

gil wrote:
Fri Dec 23, 2022 1:01 am
And by the way, fuel taxes pay for a significant amount, but not all, of road costs. General taxes such as property and sales taxes subsidize roads.
I actually knew that, but I didn't see the point of adding that qualifier. The basic concept of gas taxes as essentially use taxes for roads still applies, even if some funding comes from other sources.

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gil
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Re: New Proposal for Funding Roads and Highways in WA

Post by gil » Fri Dec 23, 2022 8:07 pm

GL_Storm wrote:
Fri Dec 23, 2022 8:22 am
gil wrote:
Fri Dec 23, 2022 1:01 am
And by the way, fuel taxes pay for a significant amount, but not all, of road costs. General taxes such as property and sales taxes subsidize roads.
I actually knew that, but I didn't see the point of adding that qualifier. The basic concept of gas taxes as essentially use taxes for roads still applies, even if some funding comes from other sources.
Yes I agree. I tend to believe that we should get rid of that other funding for roads, and have he construction and maintenance of roads and highways paid entirely by use taxes. If I want to play in the mountains, and I drive there, I should pay (my share of) the full cost of building and maintaining the roads to get there. Whatever my fuel is.

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Donn Beach
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Re: New Proposal for Funding Roads and Highways in WA

Post by Donn Beach » Sat Dec 24, 2022 5:21 am

D-train wrote:
Thu Dec 15, 2022 3:18 pm
Removes and incentive to switch to electric. More brilliant public policy. Try to get people to do something and then punish them for it.
So you believe the government should favor the electric car industry by allowing their buyers to use public roads for free? Would you consider that a libertarian position?
.One of the core principles of libertarianism is that governments should not pick winners and losers. Instead, the free market should make that determination. All efforts by the government to redistribute wealth inevitably result in favoritism towards the politically well-connected

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ddraig
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Re: New Proposal for Funding Roads and Highways in WA

Post by ddraig » Sat Dec 24, 2022 7:46 am

Simple solution: Have EV's pay a "mileage tax" while the rest of us continue paying at the pump. I'm sure the State already knows how much a tax on a gallon of gas is at the pump ($0.46), and that could double if the new increase goes into effect (to 0.92/gallon. So if my car gets 300 miles to a tank of gas (13 gallons, give or take), then the State makes about $6 per tank, or $2.00 per hundred miles. If my new EV goes roughly 400 miles on a charge, have the State check the mileage every year and charge EV owners $2.00 per hundred miles driven. Of course if the State ups the tax by $0.46 per gallon in the future, I'll be paying $12.00 per tank and I would expect EV's to be charged $4.00 per hundred miles driven. Double the $2.00 for every 100 miles.

After all, what's a mere $2.00 per hundred miles driven when your new EV costs you over $60,000?

auroraave
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Re: New Proposal for Funding Roads and Highways in WA

Post by auroraave » Sat Dec 24, 2022 4:15 pm

The problem isn't a lack of tax revenue - it is that that tax money is wasted through fiscal mismanagement, incompetence, ineffeciency, bureaucracy and staggering corruption. Imagine how many millions of your tax dollars are going to be covering "chaz" lawsuits? Start there and do the math, add in all the tax-paying businesses that left Seattle during the collosal "defund the police" debacle and the 'riots' the politicians egged on - which cost the City and the state millions if not billions. Where is that moeny going to come from? Um, YOU. Did people forget about all that? Well, those bills have to get paid. There is no shortage of funds, it is simply pissed away by corruption and morons, then they run tax generating businesses out of town with staggeringly stupid policy, then come hat in hand for more of your money to solve the problems they created.

wash, rinse, repeat.

These people have destroyed Washington, Oregon, California, New York, Illinois... people need to look at the bigger picture of what is really going on - government is simply stealing your money. At this point, is there anyone left that doesn't see that? I mean, seriously. it's so blatant they aren't even trying to hide it anymore. They put labels on bills that pass the PR test in order to sell it to the masses, but this is just stealing from the people. Look at the billions going to Ukraine - for literally no rational or logiocal reason - If that isn't the biggest sham of all time, i honestly don't know what is.

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