CATO: “WE HAVE A SPENDING CRISIS, NOT A FUNDING CRISIS”
|| By FITSNEWS || Gas prices are low … which means politicians all over the country are looking for ways to raise the gas tax. Funny how that works, isn’t it?
We wrote recently about an incredibly deceptive push to raise the state gas tax here in South Carolina, while at the national level a “bipartisan” effort to raise the federal gas tax is actually getting support from The Wall Street Journal.
According to the “conservative” paper, America is beset by a “growing backlog of troubled roads and bridges.”
Not so, according to Chris Edwards of The Cato Institute …
Citing data from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), Edwards noted that the percentage of “structurally deficient” bridges in America has declined from 22 percent in 1992 to just ten percent a year ago. Citing a Federal Reserve study, he added that the nation’s interstate system has become “indisputably smoother and less deteriorated.”
Well, everywhere except South Carolina …
Also worth considering? Edwards points out that while the federal gas tax hasn’t been raised since 1994 – it more than quadrupled from four cents to its current 18.4-cent rate in the twelve years prior to 1994.
His conclusion?
“We have a spending crisis, not a funding crisis.”
Indeed …
The first reaction of politicians to any problem – real or imagined – is to raise your taxes and throw more money at it. That’s how the federal government has racked up an $18 trillion debt. The problem? Government is inefficient. And corrupt. So throwing more money at problems invariably results in more inefficiency. And more corruption.
Don’t get us wrong … we believe roads and bridges are a core function of government (we’re kooky libertarians, but we’re not that kooky). However in performing this core function, needs-based priorities and fair, transparent procurement systems must be in place – and taxpayers should never be asked to shoulder additional burdens when so much of their money is going to non-essential spending.
Anyway … just be aware that there are answers beyond just “tax and spend.” And that “tax and spend” has a direct consequence on your bottom line … and the broader consumer economy.
30 comments
Don’t think for one minute the private sector is above corruption and maleficence. Exhibit A – http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2014/08/28/5134655/boggs-paving-ceo-pleads-guilty.html
And note that Boggs was likely the #1 road contractor in South Carolina.
Yes, private sector, but it was for govm’t work.
Private companies bilk the average consumer, government, and other businesses. It’s called the profit motive, and some private entities have less scruples than others.
Yes, but the profit motive encourages lower costs and undercutting competition with lower prices or better service/product to gain customers.
Sometimes, but sometimes the profit motive encourages people to lie, to produce fake products, to make false and misleading statements about their products, to attempt to put competitors out of business by unscrupulous means, to take advantage of unsophisticated customers, to refuse to comply with contractual agreements, to corner the market on supplies so others cannot compete, and to steal.
I have met very few business men who would not lie, cheat or steal if necessary to make a profit.
That’s why we have regulations and why we can’t kill every lawyer.
Regulations are “burdensome!”
Tell him Fits!
“…encourages people to lie, to produce fake products, to make false and misleading statements about their products, to attempt to put competitors out of business by unscrupulous means, to take advantage of unsophisticated customers, to refuse to comply with contractual agreements, to corner the market on supplies so others cannot compete…”…Sounds like the ACA.
“I have met very few business men who would not lie, cheat or steal if necessary to make a profit.”…change business to congress and profit to vote, what do you have?
When politicians aren’t kissing babies they’re stealing their lollypops.
We’ve paid a hideous Obama gas tax for SIX years, and FITS said little about it… you have no credibility w/ the issue now…so STFU…
When you are passive, as the wolves rip us a part..don’t come in to try to act as an authority when you are calling gas prices LOW..another LFIFI (lie from Idiots, for IDIOTS)….You are as big an enemy as the president and his gaggle of fools called the Democrat Party.
We’ve paid a hideous Obama gas tax for SIX years
[citation needed]
hey is that a pig i see flying????…ooopsies no …so have to wait a bit longer for grandfailure to actually use a fact much less cite it..
Gas prices reached their all-time high under Dubya at $4.12/gal., but today the average price is about half that.
Obama lowered gas prices because he hates America and is a Kenyan Muslim, or something. BENGHAZI!
Benghazi, IRS, Benghazi, IRS… rinse and repeat.
You lose credibility when you can’t admit that had these scandals occurred in another President’s administration (Rep or Dem), they would be MAJOR.
Credibility? That bitch is so evil she probably stands outside Planned Parenthood and collects fetus body parts after they are discarded.
No, it wouldn’t, as evidenced in past administrations. You had no credibility to lose.
Hates America? Check. A Kenyan Muslim? Not a ‘truther’ on this issue.
How bout a ‘closet’ Muslim that supports the goals of radical Islam?
Why he hid in the wHite House all weekend and didn’t protest in France.
You are the blog clown and pussy while contributing ZERO!!!
**crickets**
When Obama took office the average has price was around $1.80 a gallon. For his first 6 years it averaged $3.50 a gallon.
That is a HUGE tax on the American people-just like the drop in gas prices today is like a tax cut for the consumer.
Bless your heart. I wouldn’t expect morons like you and Smirks to get it.
Well hey gais, here’s one factoid that isn’t horribly disheartening! Also, WOAH, THE TAX QUADRUPLED! LIKE, TWO DECADES AGO!
So, where’s this ginormous unspent revenue then? Where’s the rest of our vastly improved infrastructure? Or, where’s the waste and fraud and boondoggles galore that ate up “quadrupled” taxes? Speaking of “quadrupled” taxes, I’m sure Cato is going to delve deep into figuring out why those taxes were proposed and passed, right?
Why not tie gas taxes to inflation, or something else, so that tax hikes are less justifiable? Oh, right, TAXED ENOUGH ALREADY, NEVAR RAISE TAXES EVAR!!!
The revenue raised by current taxation is sufficient to fund every road project in the state. Publishing a complete budget would show this, assuming that citizens could read a p&l sheet.
“assuming that citizens could read a p&l sheet.”
It’s a very small %….
Got common core education? … Hey, common core math does not include reading P&Ls or any kind of spread sheet.
So, who’s fault is that?
(BTW: the truly ignorant of business math and/or g’ment math can too often be “work” for g’ment. I got dozens of stories about the IRS …)
And you know this how?
The budget CAN be accessed, but it’s a pain to get a copy before it’s passed.
The Cato Institute is not an unbiased assessor of this issue. It is one of the so-called “think tanks” created to lend the appearance of intellectual credibility to policies of the political Right. With Cato, a fair and accurate evaluation of the issue takes a back seat to ideological correctness.
LOL … You just can’t let the libertarians get a word in, can you, you taxsucking “progressive” Helot.
OK, so who’s “think tank” graphics, charts and number will you accept? … The IRS? The SEC? Any other g’ment shills?
Even the Charleston Chamber of Commerce has been recruited by state lawmakers to push for an increase in the SC state gas tax. Really crazy and corrupt shit.
# of Rich donors x # of complaints = road
Deaths + actual need = no road