http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/12/30/2884741/twin-gas-tax-increases-to-hit.html On Sunday, we will be paying the highest gas tax ever, 38.9 cents per gallon. There are only 4 states with higher gas taxes. This is not something that we should be proud of. To intice businesses to start up in NC, which will bring jobs, having some of the nation's highest gas taxes is not going in the right direction.
We need to urge our representatives in Raleigh to cut the taxes!
Comments
Your post defies logic - again
North Carolina is routinely ranked as one of the best states by Site Selection magazine and numerous other rankingsfor the state and particular regions of the state.
If the gas tax was negatively impacting business and job creation, don't you think that would have shown up in the data or noticed by business rankings in the past decade or so?
Nevermind. Don't answer.
Did you read the article?
Or do you have difficulty with accepting facts? The Charlotte Observer article just came out a couple of days ago. Maybe you don't mind NC having one of the highest gas taxes, I intend on working to get it reduced.
Funny, Frank
As usna77 points out below, your right wing friends in the legislature are responsible for the situation you're up in arms about.
It's not funny one bit James.
I don't know who is to blame but I want it fixed and I've contacted Tommy Tucker and Bill Brawley and urged them to lower our gas taxes. I hope you will contact your representatives and do the same.
You don't know who to blame?
The blame rests with Thom Tillis and Phil Berger. Just read the story you linked to. It's all there.
That said, I don't have a problem with the gas tax being high. North Carolina wants to have great roads and safe bridges ... and that costs a lot of money.
I just want to see lower taxes in NC.
Currently our taxes are way too high. I look at our neighbor in Tennessee which has no state income tax and much lower gas taxes and they manage to fix all their roads adequately. I don't believe our NC state government is being all it could be in managing tax revenue.
Happiness levels by state show...
NC is 12, Tn is 4. NY is ranked 51 which is to be expected. I note the other blue states have low rankings as well.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/12/091217141314.htm
Said another way, high taxes does not make for a happy life.
Except when it does
You've just made the best case for socialism that can be made.
http://www.forbes.com/2010/07/14/world-happiest-countries-lifestyle-realestate-gallup-table.html
Republicans LOVE gas taxes
The Radical Republicans in Raleigh have had a year to stop the increase in gasoline taxes, but they chose not to. In fact, the gas tax hike is a major plank of the Carolinas Association of General Contractors, a group with deep pockets and a huge lobbying presence in Raleigh.
Just as with the Radical Republicans in Washington with their opposition to extending the payroll tax cut, the Radical Republicans in Raleigh are no friends to the poor and working class, who are inordinately burdened by these regressive taxes.
______________________________________________________________________
The measure of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little. - FDR
Yet they wouldn't keep the 1 cent sales tax
that would have meant a billion dollars into the state treasury and no need to cut all those teachers' jobs in hard times.
Bass-ackwards.
Grover Norquist is so proud.
Gas tax pays for roads
Gas tax pays for roads and road maintenance. It's as close to a fee for service that a free marketeer can get in NC, except that it's not enough to keep up with needs.
North Carolina has a high number of state maintained roads relative to other states. It's been that way since the 1920's when the state took over from counties unable to maintain a system of roads essential to the growth of NC commerce. Federal funds of $1,709,333.90 in 1921 jump-started the NC highway system, built on debt, and gained us the "Good Roads State" moniker.
Lowering gas tax to increase vehicle miles traveled may make it cheaper for Art Pope to move Chinese goods around the southeast but it will not pay for increased road maintenance and congestion relief.
True, but maybe the priorities for roads are off in NC.
We put a lot of money into places where the demand is not that high like in eastern NC but Charlotte always seems to be at the low end of the totem pole where the need is the highest. Do we really need a beltway around Fayetteville? Wow.
Bragg
People who drive through Fayetteville, understand the need to drive around it. The Fayetteville Loop has been in planning for over 30 years, yet there is no funding for completion. The currently funded section connects Fort Bragg directly to I-95. That's the funding that Charlotte and Raleigh have been sore about. With the opening of the new US Army Forces Command and US Army Reserve Command headquarters earlier this year under BRAC, the Army seems to think it's necessary for logistics and security.
I support the gasoline tax
I too support gasoline taxes necessary to keep our transportation systems efficient for commerce and travel. I wish more were spent to subsidize mass transit and regional high speed rail, and specifically to extend passenger rail from the Piedmont to Asheville.
But the Radical Republicans didn't campaign on building new roads. They campaigned on cutting taxes. Then they tried to finesse these increases in the gasoline tax, which are payback to the powerful and deep-pocketed AGC for millions in campaign contributions.
______________________________________________________________________
The measure of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little. - FDR