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AUGUST 27, 2010 | Commentary by NATHAN BENEFIELD
Gov. Rendell's Gamesmanship
While table games have been in Pennsylvania casinos for more than a month, I don't know if Gov. Rendell has tried his luck. But it would be a safe wager that he's a fantastic poker player. Why? For eight years, he's been able to bluff, bully, and stare down anyone who opposes his tax-borrow-and-spend agenda.
AUGUST 17, 2010 | Commentary by NATALIE ROGOL
Time to Exit Rendell's Road to Higher Taxes
Governor Rendell has proposed a series of tax increases to fill a $415 million transportation funding deficit created when the federal government rejected his plan to toll I-80 for a third time. The state's highway system is in sorry condition, but not because taxpayers pay too little. Pennsylvania spends more on transportation
JUNE 23, 2010 | Testimony by MATTHEW BROUILLETTE
More Reforms Before More Revenue in Transportation
Testimony before the Senate Transportation Committee
Good morning and thank you Chairman Rafferty for the invitation to testify before your committee and for your consideration of our policy solutions to help address Pennsylvania's transportation infrastructure funding challenges. While many in this building and in the transportation industry view Pennsylvania's transportation infrastructu
Recent Blog Posts
AUGUST 30, 2010
Pennsylvanians Have Good Reasons to Oppose Higher Fuel Taxes
Grove City College economist Tracy Miller explains why Pennsylvania drivers are resistant to a higher gasoline tax. In contrast to prior periods when the tax was viewed as a user fee, today's highway funds (federal and state) are diverted to mass transit, as well as recreational and pork projects, rather than fixing bridges:
Recent strong opposition to increases in fuel taxes does not mean that Americans are less willing than before to pay taxes in order to have better roads. What it does reflect is voters’ opposition to money paid in fuel taxes being used for purposes other than highway spending. In recent years, almost 20 percent of money paid into the Federal Highway Trust Fund (FHTF) has been spent on mass transit. In addition, FHTF money is being spent on recreational trails, historic preservation, and scenic easements. Besides the FHTF money allocated for non-highway purposes, a growing share is used for earmarks that reflect the political priorities of members of Congress rather than the priorities of highway users who pay gasoline taxes.
Why should federal fuel taxes, which are paid by rural and urban drivers alike, be used to pay for public transportation, which primarily benefits residents of large metropolitan areas? In Pennsylvania, 90 percent of transit-operating grants is paid to the Southeast Pennsylvania Transportation Authority and the Port Authority of Allegheny County (PAAC). But only 50 percent of the state's population lives in the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh areas served by these transit agencies. In these two metropolitan areas, less than five percent of local trips are on public transportation while almost all the rest are by automobile.
posted by NATHAN BENEFIELD | 11:59 AM | 0 comment
AUGUST 26, 2010
Turnpike Commission, PennDOT Fight Over Their Spoils
The Patriot News today reports that the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC) and the PA Department of Transportation (PennDOT) are arguing over how much money the PTC has to pay PennDOT this year. The Turnpike Commission says $450 million, PennDOT says $922 million.
Act 44 specified the amount the PTC pays the state, but also included a clause that the amount would be $450 million if there isn't tolling on I-80. As it turns out, there is disagreement as to when that $450 million kicks in.
Really, who would have ever guessed the rushed, misguided, and ill-conceived legislation that became Act 44 would have had major oversights like this?
Of course, the Turnpike Commission has already increased tolls -- including another 10% increase on cash-payers scheduled for January -- to make their payments. Or rather, to pay off their debts, as all the payments to this point under Act 44 have been made with borrowed money, to be paid off with future tolls (and backed by Pennsylvania's gas tax).
What this really amounts to is two agencies arguing over who reaps the spoils of their plot to fleece Pennsylvania motorists.
posted by NATHAN BENEFIELD | 02:05 PM | 0 comment
AUGUST 23, 2010
The A-Team View of Taxes
As a kid growing up, I used to love watching the A-Team every week. Each week the A-Team would find someone in trouble, usually due to a violent gang of bullies, but the A-Team would be able to out-think and out-fight the bad guys.
Amazingly, though the A-Team fights typically included hundreds of rounds of machine gun fire, a few explosions, a good fist-fight (with someone being thrown through a table or a plate glass window), and at least one car being flipped over during a chase, no one was ever killed or seriously wounded (except in one episode where Murdock got shot, and Mr. T had to give him a blood transfusion).
As ridiculous as this premise seems, it is exactly the view Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell holds in regards to taxes. No matter how much the state takes from residents, no one will be harmed.
Lately, he's applied this thinking to his proposed increase in motorists fees and tax on big oil companies - but he's also referred to the ease with which taxpayers could eat his income tax increase, or any of his dozens of tax proposals.
However, you can't take more money out of the pockets of Pennsylvanians and expect there to be no effect. People may not "lose their homes," but they will reduce spending elsewhere, with real economic consequences.
posted by NATHAN BENEFIELD | 03:10 PM | 0 comment
