Atlanta wisely voted down a transportation tax. Some thought it spent too much on highways; some too much on transit. But wherever the money would be spent, why should transportation be paid for out of taxes when users will (and should) pay for it?
Meanwhile, the race for mayor of Honolulu is heating up with pro-rail groups spending $1 million against former Governor Ben Cayetano, who has vowed to kill the city’s $5 billion rail project. Cayetano nevertheless appears certain to get a plurality of votes in next Tuesday’s election, but probably not enough to avoid a runoff election in November.
It dilates blood vessels and prevents blocks cialis 20mg tadalafil in arteries. Simple television Shop is viagra for sale mastercard eager to offer better than ever recipe of Xanogen to you. But they became strong, best price viagra physically and spiritually. He works as the inhibitor of the enzyme phosphodiesterase 5. cheap pfizer viagra opacc.cv and see how it increases the blood flow to your penis rendering it hard and erect.
Meanwhile, the Antiplanner has started a new blog dedicated to the Silver Age of passenger trains, which the Antiplanner defines as lasting from 1934, when the first streamliners appeared, to 1971, when Amtrak took over. As a fan of those trains, the Antiplanner has collected hundreds of pieces of rail memorabilia, which I’ve scanned and will post at the rate of at least one per day over the next year or so with only occasional political commentary. Regardless of how you feel about transportation policy, if you love trains, you’ll enjoy this new blog.
Thanks for starting the new blog on the Streamliner era.
Tried posting to your “Help Wanted” page, but couldn’t log in.
Scanned this for you, it’s a pic I took back in 1984, when the 4449 was being rebuilt in a yard north of Albany.
http://tenmileisland.blogspot.com/2012/06/blog-post.html
TMI,
I changed the settings so now you can register and log in to post comments. Thanks for letting me know this option was missing.
Antiplanner
How did Atlanta get by the huge matching money argument, i.e. that $1 in taxes brings $5 in federal money into their economy?
P.S. Great idea to do the train blog page. Please don’t stop posting occasional train photos here too.
Please don’t stop posting occasional train photos here too.
I think many of us really enjoy “train pornography.”
Who should pay for what & why?
General taxes (property, sales), paid by all earners (rises w/income) pay for the basic purpose of government—protection (military, police, fire, courts, laws, etc.) for all.
That’s roughly ? (almost $2 trill) of all gov spending . About another ? goes to a very small % of end-users, including public transit, handling <2% of all passenger-miles (<5% of commuter trips).
Is it fair & just to tax the masses for the benefit of so few?
Compare to roads (85%+ of adults driving), primarily (~80%) paid for by user-based taxes. An additional 50¢/gallon could roughly fund all road spending; $1/gallon for much expansion & improvement (get rid of the inefficient, unfair, dangerous & unworthile HOVs).
The rich are demonized & falsely accused of paying little, & that they should pay more.
For federal income taxes, the lower 47% of filers pay zero.
Filers above $100,000, top 12.4%, paid 74.7%, in 2009 (source: IRS).
Filers above $500,000, top 0.52%, paid 30% of the total. If their effective tax rates were doubled (ceteris paribus—doesn’t happen—money behavior changes), that would pay for only 2 months of the deficit.
The rich pay almost nothing in FICA taxes compared to the bottom 90%. Ditto for excise taxes on liquor, smokes, and gas.
Relentless focus on the Income tax alone is a complete distortion of the total tax picture. So are the ridiculous excuses about 47% not paying income tax when that was part of the goal of the Republicans who cut the taxes in 2001 and 2003 – to remove people from the income tax roles through higher exemptions, deductions, and credits.