Are Taxes Based on a Real Need?...
We had an interesting briefing today with ITD and the Governor's office requesting an increase of $200M for additional needs for "transportation" and $134M for additional (to the$450M already approved) GARVEE funding. This is a hard pill to swallow (as I've written about in previous posts) without understanding the real need and where these funds will and are going towards.
Let's just consider the $200M of "New Money" requested (and by the way, that means additional taxes or fees of $143 per man, woman and child of our state). Some of us are asking how this need was determined. Was it vetted through a public comment process where the public would understand the project and the costs to them of the highways, overpasses or public transport systems being recommended to them?
I'm wondering if we are now in an era where we can use communication tools like the Internet and other tools where the public could be better educated about the costs associated to their choices. If a pollster were to ask me if I would like to have a really nice 6 lane highway, I would likely say "sure!"... but if asked that same question while also telling me that it will cost me another $143 per year for every member of my family for the rest of our lives, I would have to reconsider and ask for other options...
There was some polling of citizens was done prior to the Legislative session asking our folks if they would approve of increased registration fees to add money to our transportation funding, 52% approved of that. I suspect that had they known that the bill they were looking at funding was $200M and their share was $143/person... the results would have come out just a bit differently. I wonder why that wasn't part of the question asked in the poll?...
I don't disagree that ITD needs more funding to meet it's current commitments, I just have to ask if those commitments are really meeting the needs of the people and if the people understand the costs of what they are now signed up for... are those commitments really the requirements?
Your thoughts?
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3 comments:
You have asked some extremely important questions. Somehow the governor has forgotten his private industry lessons. When you or I or a business has expenses in excess of our resources, we prioritize our spending to keep solvent. Micron is a case in point. In order to maintain the bulk of their business, they have laid off the lowest priority portions of the workforce to "balance the books". We really need to apply some tough decision making to the highway spending proposal. Is it more important than some of the state bureaucracy? If so, make the appropriate cuts. If not then scale back expenditures to match resources. It's basic economics, but hard politics.
Marv -- Off topic, but congratulations on your re-election to the House! (I suppose it's not exactly official yet, but since you're running unopposed...)
Well said Mr. Hagedorn. As a taxpayer who wrote multiple checks to the government this year, I think that government has hidden behind the "pay as you go" tax scheme for too long. If "the folks" really knew how much these projects were costing, they might better discern what the true needs are.
Keep looking out for us!!!
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