Let it be known, there is no such thing as a “temporary” goverrment rax.
In 1898, Congress passed a levy of one cent per telephone call to help raise money for the Spanish-American War. By 1990, the tax had become three percent (3%) of your overall telephone bill
So when a politician talks about a temporary tax, he is lying:
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A temporary tax on gasoline, diesel fuel or imported oil could provide billions of dollars for U.S. bridge upgrades, a leading congressional Democrat said on Wednesday.
Rep. James Oberstar, chairman of the House of Representatives Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, whose home state of Minnesota was the scene of the August 1 highway bridge collapse into the Mississippi River, said increased taxes on all three products could generate more than $40 billion over three years.
Before we raise one more road tax, we need to stop the government from diverting road tax dollars to pet pork projects. For example, Minnesota would had plenty of transportation funds available, had the government not spent seven hundred million dollars on twelve mile long trolley line, Hiawatha.
Just as the secret to immigration reform is enforce border security first, the key to road infrastructure repair to quit diverting our road tax dollars away from our roads. No more road tax dollars for trolley lines.
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August 8th, 2007 at 22:41
Your points about the diversions of funds, are well taken. But that’s not what was happening, frankly, in Minnesota. And yes, I mentioned the state specifically, because they’re the ones who are responsible for the upkeep of the bridge, allbeit to Federal standards. Minnesota had a serious surplus going on, in terms of funds. Raising taxes, wouldn’t have solved the issue. They already had the money that would have been required. Further, at the moment as we have both pointed out, I am not convinced this was a money issue. Nor, apparently, are the investigators as yet.