Paying Our Fair Share of Highway Taxes [ADMIN WARNING: NO POLITICS]

[doogie63]

Let's deal with actual numbers instead of predictions:
Defense 2023: $816 Billion
Debt Interest 2023: $659 Billion

I got my numbers from CBS report. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/federal-debt-interest-payments-defense-medicare-children/

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[mkhuffman]

Taking this Federal Budget chart as an example. It's from '21 or '22, I think.

Mandatory spending must happen by law, and changing the law is the so-called "third rail" of politics. Setting that aside, cuts would have to be severe for the simple reason that services to "dependent" people make up a tiny fraction of the budget. Cutting all of them, while warming Libertarian hearts, still leaves a massive deficit. So there would necessarily have to be cuts to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Veterans Services, Education, etc. People would be up in arms. They'd never tolerate it. Never mind all those in the defense industry. They'd be apoplectic. So, what else would you cut? Again, this is why governing is hard.

Eliminate eveything that is unconstitutional, and we can actually reduce taxes and balance the budget. Wow. What a concept. Freedom instead of government control of everything.

But as someone else stated, the government never reduces spending. They just keep on spending more.

It is a spending problem, not a tax revenue problem. We can fix our roads with the tax revenue already coming in. We don't need more taxes.

 

[ArthurDOB]

I disagree with your assertion!!! IMO, the only true "fair way" to assess taxes is if we have a Flat Tax. Everyone pays 15% no matter your income. That way your not penalized for working hard while watching your income pissed away on someone not as hardworking or smart as you.

You make 2 dollars and you owe 30 cents, you make 1 dollar you owe 15 cents.

That's why I said "most Americans," not all of them.

The flat tax is the rich man's scam. It's regressive and hurts people with the lowest incomes and rewards those with the highest incomes. It shifts the tax burden downward onto those who make the least money. For example:

I make $350,000 and pay 15% = $52,500
You make $15,000 and pay 15% = $2,250
Part-time grocery high school bagger makes $5,300 and pays 15% = $795

Losing that $2,250 hurts you a lot more than losing $52,500 hurts me. A lot more. The grocery store bagger kid can't believe he now has to pay almost $800 in taxes! Today, that kid pays next to nothing, as they should.

I run this idea of a flat tax for everyone past my students with no editorializing whatsoever. When they hear it, it sounds good to them. When they crunch the numbers, to a kid, they all think it's not fair to the lowest earners. This idea has been proposed several times over the years and exposed for the scam it is each time after it has been explained to people what would result. For those with average incomes and lower, they find that it raises their taxes, not lowers them. They hate it even more when they find out that well-off people pay less than they do currently.

Put all the "laugh" emojis below that you want, folks, but this isn't "liberal" or "conservative," these are the facts.

 

[ArthurDOB]

I got my numbers from CBS report. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/federal-debt-interest-payments-defense-medicare-children/

They're still predictions

 

[ArthurDOB]

Eliminate eveything that is unconstitutional, and we can actually reduce taxes and balance the budget. Wow. What a concept. Freedom instead of government control of everything.

But as someone else stated, the government never reduces spending. They just keep on spending more.

It is a spending problem, not a tax revenue problem. We can fix our roads with the tax revenue already coming in. We don't need more taxes.

If you ever run for office, I hope you don't expect to win.

 

[DennisD]

Eliminate eveything that is unconstitutional, and we can actually reduce taxes and balance the budget. Wow. What a concept. Freedom instead of government control of everything.

But as someone else stated, the government never reduces spending. They just keep on spending more.

It is a spending problem, not a tax revenue problem. We can fix our roads with the tax revenue already coming in. We don't need more taxes.

Actually Social Security is solvent. We actually pay more in than we take out if we use if strictly for SS. The problem is that we dip into the account and spend it on other things.

So in your scenario, one better hope you don't need help with Transportation, Food, Education, Housing, Energy, Science, Health and Social Security.

If you were born into wealth and were born with good genes and most of your neighbors are in the same boat figuratively speaking, I am sure you will be fine until the Revolution that would certainly happen takes hold of your comfortable lifestyle.

If you look back into history, you will find the reason why many of these programs were introduced. But wait.................you did away with Education.

I am just bustin' your balls. I understand that we collectively spend too much money but in your perfect world, you are throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

I think we could find some middle ground somewhere.

 

[Space_Pony]

If you ever run for office, I hope you don't expect to win.

Exactly, you have to buy votes, like dismiss a bunch of college loans.

 

[SFC]

Are we paying our Fair Share of highway taxes? Since those taxes are mostly a per gallon assessment, in most cases we are not and it isn't helping anyone. Some States are charging a fee when you register your BEV but that isn't fair either. There needs to be a tax based on miles driven and the weight of the vehicle. Here in upstate NY the roads took a beating this winter and road repairs are very expensive. There needs to be an equitable solution.

The reality is that cars and trucks do almost nothing to roads in comparison to OTR/Shipping vehicles. We're essentially subsidizing the trucking industry through road taxes, which is fine, but I wouldn't lose any sleep over the miniscule damage your EV is doing to the roads. It's about the equivalent of a person running down the road vs. your car driving down it. A semi can legally weigh up to 80,000 lbs. Your car weighs ~4,300 lbs.

 

[Wk217]

I live in Utah.

Utah, as of 1/2024, has a $0.365/gallon gas tax.
Per a Reason.org examination in 2020, based on FY2018 data, Utah diverts a total of 1.7% of gas tax revenue to uses outside of roads and highways, with 65% of that diversion going to public safety, so in my opinion, Utah is doing a good job of spending gas tax dollars on roads and highways.

Utah has as of last year started charging EV drivers an annual road usage fee. They can opt to either pay a lump sum of $138.50 or they can pay by the mile at 1.06 cents/mile if they don't drive that many miles (break even is 13066 miles).

So, in Utah, an EV driver that drives 13066 miles a year pays the equivalent gas tax to a ICE driver that drives 13066 miles a year in a car with an average fuel efficiency of ~34.5mpg.

In my case, I think it more than fair as long as there aren't any other EV specific hidden taxes elsewhere that also go toward paying for roads (like additional taxes on EV charging, etc)

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