The Texas Department of Transportation’s push to privatize existing roads is back in the news.
The Texas Department of Transportation is pushing Congress to pass a federal law allowing the state to “buy back” parts of existing interstate highways and turn them into toll roads.
Yeah, that’s the plan. Take our interstate highway system, a system that is paid for and taxed already for maintenance, and turn it into another revenue stream for the state.
At least one legislator doesn’t like the plan:
“I think it’s a dreadful recommendation on the part of the transportation commissioners here in Texas,” said Senate Transportation and Homeland Security Committee Chairman John Carona, R-Dallas.
“I feel confident that legislators in Austin would overwhelmingly be opposed to such an idea,” he said. “The simple fact is that taxpayers have already paid for those roadways. To ask taxpayers to pay for them twice is untenable.”
Unfortunately, Mr. Carona would have more credibility on this issue if he had done something about it in the last legislative session. He had a draft of the report in his hand back in December of 2006. More hot air from a politician.
But let’s beat up on the senator later. The highlight of the Chronicle’s report is this gem of a line from TxDOT’s spokesman when asked about the wisdom of spending $7-9 million on an ad campaign to promote the Trans Texas Corridor and other toll roads.
“It’s less than 50 cents a Texan,” Transportation Department spokesman Chris Lippincott said in defense of the ad campaign. “We could sit down and buy them a cup of coffee for that kind of money.”
A cup of coffee. What happens to people when they get government jobs? How do they lose all sense of the value of money? A cup of coffee? Heck, why not go all out and waste a hundred million, Mr. Lippincott?
It’s only a latte.
Filed Under Uncategorized ·
Comments
31 Responses to “TxDOT Arrogance: Taxpayers are Coffee Drinking Fools”Search
Our Sponsors
Poll
Loading ...LST Book Club
-
Defending Identity: Its Indispensable Role in Protecting Democracy
by Natan Sharansky -
Fear No Evil
by Natan Sharansky -
The Case For Democracy: The Power of Freedom to Overcome Tyranny and Terror
by Anatoly Shcharansky -
The Jewish State: The Struggle for Israel's Soul
by Yoram Hazony -
Bobos in Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There
by David Brooks -
Snobbery: The American Version
by Joseph Epstein -
A Conflict of Visions: Idealogical Origins of Political Struggles
by Thomas Sowell
Cut the ad budget down to $8,999,999.50 and I’ll take my coffee. Black.
Jolly something must be wrong with this story, the Republicans would never allow someone like this to be a member of their party, they would throw him out, right?
Oh, I forgot he is better then Hillary. She is for tax increases the Republicans are against them, right.
And where the heck does Chris get a cup of coffee for .50 cents? He is not living in reality.
If they cut the budget in half, I bet we could all afford to buy each of the bureaucrats at TXDOT a steak dinner.
Stop the ad campaign for the foolishness it is. A glitzy ad campaign is what it takes to sell Texans? I don’t think so. And fire the man who thinks an ad campaign is an excellent idea.
My guess is that they could buy that $4.50 coffee at Starbucks by the time they are finished.
I’m gonna steal his car and then sell it back to him.
Give me my cup. And then let me put it where it belongs.
Coffee enemas all around!
#4 american_woman: No doubt, but is nothing new.
On 59 by the beltway recently there was a billboard advertisement for the Texas Corridor project, so it is no matter of conjecture anymore.
The advertisement featured some Wilford Brimly looking cowboy advocating the benefits to all Texans of carving a 4 football field wide track throught the middle of our state, displacing untold number of Texans from their homes and business’s!
The same kind of mindset that was used when Hitler was photgraphed with dogs and children: he must be a niicceee guy, right?
They must think we are as stupid as they are! The fools are these smarmy socialist pols and their collective hubris!
Add them all together:
gas taxes + registration fees + tolls + fines collected in traffic court = streets of gold
I’ll be too broke to afford to drive onthe danged thing! Then I will steal his car!
Fasternu 426,
I believe in todays PC world it would only be considered stealing if you have no intention of giving it back, until that can be proven you have simply borrowed it.
If you leave it on the side of the road when it runs out of gas its not stealing.
11
What if I burn it?
Texas is going to institute a mileage charge on vehicles instead of the gasoline tax. The Federal Government will do the same. The head of the US Transportation Department has already killed a recommended increase in the gasoline tax. The reason for the mileage tax is that you have vehicles getting 40 to 60 miles per gallon of gasoline and as gas price continue to rise there will be more of these cars and that doesn’t in cluded home made bio-fuel. On lady from San Antonio said her monthly tax for road use around SA would be $400/month for her vehicle.
Wonder what Chris’ response would be if someone told him that they were going to buy his house back and then charge him more every month to live in it for as long as he lived in it?
Fifty cents per Texan sounds cheap until you add up all the Texans. That’s the way that you sell something to someone by breaking it down to it’s lowest denominator.
IE “You can own this car for only $15 per day.” Fifteen dollars a day is $105 per week. With 4.3 weeks in a month that’s $451.50 per month x 60 months is $27,090. Twenty dollars ($20) per day equates to $36,120 over 60 months. Of course, the Geo 2-Door only listed for $13,995 fully loaded!
Besides, the roads are already paid for! We shouldn’t have to pay to drive on them again. They can keep their ad campaign. We should fire the whole lot on them in on this scheme.
/rant off, but steam still escaping….
I guess it all comes down to maintenance and support of the highways
In Texas, I will grant the government has more highway miles to watch by a huge factor than any other state. Second, what is the maintenance cost per mile? what is the states exposure to it?
Whats wrong with Tolls verses taxes a toll is only paid when you use something and a tax is forever whether you use it or not?
15
We’ll end up paying both. Being taxed twice to use one highway. They should quit spending like a crack ho with a stolen credit card!
We’ll pay a toll then we’ll still pay the gas taxes and any other sneaky little taxes we are paying to use the same stretch of road. I can see the day where they put an EZ tag type of device or GPS and track where we drive and tax us for it like Oregon is looking in to. For the same reasons Eric posted. Taxed per mile because fuel efficient cars are “eroding the tax base”.
http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/HWY/RUFPP/index.shtml
They want us to use fuel efficient cars, but it erodes their tax base? So they will tax in a different manner. How will they collect? Send a bill? If we don’t have the $$$ will we be forced to back roads and cutting through neighborhoods to get to work? Would they REALLY get rid of the gas tax? (Yeah right!) What about the POOR and illegals? Will they get a pass?
Inquiring minds want to know!
Faster
Unlike my Rino Brethren I only approve a tax if a larger tax is removed if I were king
In other words get rid of social securitys what 750 billion, put in place a tax on gasoline to raise 250 billion that is really all that is needed by social security
In the case of Texas, tolls only, no vehicle tax, no registration tax, no gas tax
Thats how I feel, the best way to curb government is to change and shrink through legislation
And if a neighborhood is built like in parts of Oklahoma the neighborhood is responisble for their own Damn roads not all the taxpayers
#12 Fasternu 426
I just spoke to Al Gore he said that would cost you 10 carbon credits unless its an SUV then it would be 0, and you would be rewarded for saving mother earth..
Is every penny collected thru gas taxes, vehicle registrations fees, sales taxs collected on vehicle sales new & used, inspection fees, and tolls used exclusively for roads? If not what percentage is used for roads? That is the information we need.
We should not discuss new tolls or taxes before we are assured we are receiving the most benefit from those we already pay.
In Oklahoma, they have at least one Interstate that they charge tolls on. Interstate 44 has those tolls booths just like the Beltway.
The Kentucky Blue Grass Parkway was once a toll road. Kentucky mandated that once it was completed and the road paid for, the tolls would be removed. Here, they are taking roads that are already built and are going to charge to drive on them. Literally highway robbery!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highwayman
bigmck
It was talking about neighborhoods there unlike most of Texas - the developer and the residents in many parts of the state pay for the interior roads they use - sorry if I was unclear
Whiskey in the Jar!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=to8N1rR9l-c
#8 PB…… 13 years ago my company offered to its customers the use of billboard advertising. Points were earned to get the billboard for one month. The billboards ran $5000 a month and we furnished the art. Wonder what that spiffy Transamerica highway billboard is costing, plus art? Doesn’t anyone in office understand the mood of Texans? We are scandal ravaged and weary of fighting those we put into office, and yet they keep hitting us with more stupidity.
#15 - I love it!
voters have opposed increases in the gas tax
You mean, since those damn uncooperative voters oppose increases in gas tax, we’ll show them! Just tax the hell out of their mileage!
Sometimes I worry that our little American Dream is about to turn into a nightmare…
The solution to this situation reminds me of a bit in “Liar, Liar”:
Stop spending so much money, a$$h@#$s!
At this point, many of us are paying for a lotta latte’s….
I would just note that if Peter keeps going to Starbucks, he will have to keep robbing Paul and Paul is getting veddy veddy aggravated.
If the elected officials hadn’t handed off contracts to their buddies companies to make huge profits, we would have money to do things without paying two or three times for roads already built. If the graft were stopped….. if elected officials did not think of their own pocketbooks first……. how much we could save! For example, why is it costing $1mil per mile to build the fence between the USA and Mexico? Are they using $5 screws and nails? It makes no sense,none of it.
If the government gets really tough on the employers giving illegals jobs, there won’t be a need for a border fence. There will be no reason to come here.
Soon, I will be moving to SC from western NY state.
NYers, particularly those in Upstate, are overtaxed, live with lower wages than folks in other large states, and are fed a steady diet of spin via the local media outlets. Everybody here knows how bad things are, and it has to do with Medicaid, the public employees’ unions, and the state’s myriad “authorities”.
NY has had the Thruway Authority since the 50’s, when the interstates were just coming into being. The Thruway was built with tax revenue from gas taxes during WW II, federal monies, and bonds which were sold. It includes most of I-90 through NY (Mass. to the PA state line near Erie), and some of I-87 (between Albany and NYC). This year, toll barriers along I-190 near Buffalo were taken down. Buffalo commuters were the only ones in NY who were forced to pay tolls into and out of that city.
The bonds were paid off in ‘94. After that, the state and the authority were supposed to get rid of all tolls. The Thruway gets little federal support, due to the fact it is a toll road. Since ‘94, tolls have gone up twice, and there’s no indication the authority has any intention of getting rid of the tolls. The authority (NY has over 700 of them) has very little oversight, and has become a political card, since most of its’ workers are union members.
Authorities in NY are mixed public and private, yet they have a huge influence over state politics in Albany.
Toll takers on the Thruway top out at well north of $20/hr., plus get free health, and a generous retirement plan. Their children (18+) are eligible to work summers at toll booths, which starts at $12/hr. and tops out at around $15/hr.
My point is this. The last thing folks in Texas should want is to become more like NY. For that matter, any good state should do everything in their power to stay financially solvent, unlike the states of NY, MA, etc. Do yourselves a favor and keep your great state more free than those in the Entitlement Belt.
Excellent post, mopar.