Indiana bill to raise gas tax and toll more roads

[Jaredjosh]

I don't mind paying taxes to build and maintain roads. What I don't like is my money being wasted. I don't like roads being shut down for days or weeks to be rebuilt only to last a short period of time due to poor quality work or poor designs that don't last. I don't like politicians lining the pockets of their buddies with construction projects paid for by the people when it isn't needed. I was always taught to do it right the first time but see more and more construction companies trying to make the quick buck. I would like to see companies held responsible for poor work and craftsmanship.

I will be the first to admit I'm ignorant of the complete process so maybe what I say doesn't ring entirely true, if that's the case please enlighten me.

 

[KMaC]

Paul30 said: "I recall Indiana sold the rights to a toll road to Australia for 75 years to get a quick 3.8 million at the time."
Make that $3.8 Billion with a B.

 

[gregr]

Paul30 said: "I recall Indiana sold the rights to a toll road to Australia for 75 years to get a quick 3.8 million at the time."
Make that $3.8 Billion with a B.

And today, Indiana is in the enviable position of having a $2 billion surplus.

 

[jedi]

And as always they took that money to do other crap.

Not exaclty.
Its like what occured in il.
The il lottery was to all go for education.
It does all go to education but that was suppose to be inaddition to what the il budget had for education.

So prior to the il lottery say education got 100. With the lottery education got an addition 50. As time went by the il legilstaure only budget 50 for education since the lottery covered 50. So education again,got only 100. Thus never really increaseing.

Same here.

 

[jedi]

And today, Indiana is in the enviable position of having a $2 billion surplus.

So why not use that surplus for this road stuff then.
Or give it back to us.

 

[gregr]

So why not use that surplus for this road stuff then.
Or give it back to us.

Some of it has been used for road work, but, it can`t all be. There have to be ongoing funding revenues, or that surplus will be gone, and then we will have to do something more drastic. Same for giving it back to us. Just like a family financial plan, a savings is a boost for a family that gives it stability, and the ability to weather tough times. It`s a good thing for the tax payers to have that surplus, and it can be drawn down at times for projects. But to simply spend it all would be foolish. And, if you`ve been around for a bit, you know, the tax payers did get a bit of that money back several years ago in the form of an individual tax credit.

Indiana is on very sound footing as a state fiscally. Prudent people appreciate that and want to keep it that way.

 

[churchmouse]

Not exaclty.
Its like what occured in il.
The il lottery was to all go for education.
It does all go to education but that was suppose to be inaddition to what the il budget had for education.

So prior to the il lottery say education got 100. With the lottery education got an addition 50. As time went by the il legilstaure only budget 50 for education since the lottery covered 50. So education again,got only 100. Thus never really increaseing.

Same here.

So what I said was true in an offbeat around the back side way. They took from what was to be allotted and used it for other crap.

 

[Paul30]

And today, Indiana is in the enviable position of having a $2 billion surplus.

So we sell our toll road to foreign investors who stand to profit from our toll roads, for an immediate lump sum cash amount to make it look like "this year we did well". It is a 75 year contract, and in 12 years we have taken the 3.8 Billion and turned it into a 2 Billion surplus. I suppose in another 12 years that 2 Billion will be gone too. On the other hand, they can toll several more roads, and sell the future proceeds of those toll roads to foreign investors and claim they are financial geniuses. Meanwhile, we the people will have to pay extra to travel on roads that were paid for years ago and should be free. I understand maintenance costs, but that is what taxes are for. Keep toll roads to only new projects, and even then I would rather just pay a gas tax at the pump rather than have my license plate photographed every time I go down a different highway and be billed for every trip I take. Oh, and making it more convenient to fleece me with transponder doesn't make me feel any better about the idea.

 

[jedi]

So what I said was true in an offbeat around the back side way. They took from what was to be allotted and used it for other crap.

Correct and technically they did not lie.
All funds of the il lottery do go to education. It just happens that state funds that did go to education prior to the il lottery no longer go to the amount that they did before the lottery.

Same will occur here as with all other .gov programs.

 

[jedi]

Paul30 dont worry in a few years they wont photo your plates. You will have a chip in your body so they know it was YOU and not your car with your brother driving that used that toll road. So they will just take it out of your bank account asap.

 

[BugI02]

Revelation 13:16-17

They might get some ... resistance ... to that plan

 

[churchmouse]

So we sell our toll road to foreign investors who stand to profit from our toll roads, for an immediate lump sum cash amount to make it look like "this year we did well". It is a 75 year contract, and in 12 years we have taken the 3.8 Billion and turned it into a 2 Billion surplus. I suppose in another 12 years that 2 Billion will be gone too. On the other hand, they can toll several more roads, and sell the future proceeds of those toll roads to foreign investors and claim they are financial geniuses. Meanwhile, we the people will have to pay extra to travel on roads that were paid for years ago and should be free. I understand maintenance costs, but that is what taxes are for. Keep toll roads to only new projects, and even then I would rather just pay a gas tax at the pump rather than have my license plate photographed every time I go down a different highway and be billed for every trip I take. Oh, and making it more convenient to fleece me with transponder doesn't make me feel any better about the idea.

And yes....they took the money and spent it to buy votes/build monuments to tax revenue and empower themselves.

Turn these people over on a regular basis. We have term limits just nobody uses them.

 

[Steel and wood]

The north Indiana toll road worked out well they loss money on it by not raising tolls for years because they could not take the political heat so it lost money then we sold that turd to a sucker which was smart then got it back in repo. Chicago outer loop sucks. No one should stand for tool roads. Use all the lotto money and gas tax money for the roads. I am not against raising the gas tax just no toll more roads

 

[Hop]

I drove ~11 miles around that new toll bridge in Jeffersonville. Ha, take that Indiana!

 

[Expat]

So having a GOP super majority got us increased liberty (constitutional carry, Sunday sales, etc.), lower taxes and spending to reduce the size of government....

 

[Kirk Freeman]

So having a GOP super majority got us increased liberty (constitutional carry, Sunday sales, etc.), lower taxes and spending to reduce the size of government....

Well . . . . um . . . so far . . .

 

[hoosierdoc]

But our tax dollars don't fund PP abortions...

same math issue

Not exaclty.
Its like what occured in il.
The il lottery was to all go for education.
It does all go to education but that was suppose to be inaddition to what the il budget had for education.

So prior to the il lottery say education got 100. With the lottery education got an addition 50. As time went by the il legilstaure only budget 50 for education since the lottery covered 50. So education again,got only 100. Thus never really increaseing.

Same here.

 

[SheepDog4Life]

Like others have stated, I don't mind paying for my usage of roads and bridges... but what I do mind is how much we subsidize commercial trucking.

A legally loaded semi truck "inflicts" 100 to 1,000 times the amount of damage to roads and bridges versus even the largest SUV. This is per mile driven... diesel and other taxes paid by the trucking industry don't come close to that proportion.

The rest of us make up the deficit by paying higher gasoline taxes and other taxes, like income taxes, as a significant portion of the highway costs are covered by general revenue.

 

[AmmoManAaron]

So having a GOP super majority got us increased liberty (constitutional carry, Sunday sales, etc.), lower taxes and spending to reduce the size of government....

Well . . . . um . . . so far . . .

^^^What these guys said right here^^^

I'm fed up with the Republicans not delivering. The fact that they would rather spend time screwing over Ricker's, rather than deliver on substantive campaign promises that matter a great deal to the base of the party speaks volumes.

 

[caverjamie]

So the government says we need more taxes for our roads. Okay - I'm willing to listen. But first - what about this new terrain I-69 that was shoved down my throat? Some of did not support that, some did. Which is it, do we need more roads, or to fix the roads we have, or both I guess? I'm really not very excited to give up more money when they spend money on new stuff, then tell me they need more money to fix the old stuff...