02.16.09
Enough of the half-measures and tinkering
Just raise the statewide gas tax a dime and index it to inflation and get it over with. This is really getting painful to watch. Sen. John Carona has proposed a bill that would allow, “..urban areas in Texas [to] vote to levy local taxes and fees to build road and rail projects under legislation..”. Here are the specifics of the latest “plan” that Sen. Carona has come up with, Bill would allow new taxes and fees for transportation.
The bill would allow counties to hold elections and ask voters raise new monies for development of commuter rail lines or to supplement funding for road projects. It’s being pitched as a remedy for North Texas’ chronically under funded gridlock and air pollution problems. “If we don’t have a forward-thinking transportation system, we won’t have economic development in this region 25 years from now,” said state Sen. John Carona, R-Dallas, who filed the Senate version of the bill. The house version is being filed by state Rep. Vicki Truitt, R-Keller.
The bill would allow Tarrant County and other neighboring counties to hold local option elections, asking voters to raise a menu of taxes and fees, within these limits:Higher motor fuels taxes, up to 10 cents per gallon, indexed to increase gradually with a cost of living measure known as the producer price index.
An additional fee, known as a “mobility improvement fee” tacked onto car owners’ annual vehicle registration fee, up to $60 a year.
Parking fees of up to $1 per hour.
An additional vehicle emissions fee of up to $15 a year.
Driver’s license fee, up to double the renewal amount — currently $24 for a basic noncommercial license.
A new resident impact fee up to $250, paid by car owners registering their vehicles in Texas for the first time.Using those funding parameters, each county could customize its own transportation plan to meet road and rail needs.
Elections could be called in one of three ways:
By vote of a county commission.
By a resolution of cities with a combined population of at least 60 percent of a county.
By a petition signed by at least 10 percent of that county’s voters in the most recent gubernatorial election.
It would be much easier, and sane, to just raise the statewide gas tax and pay a little extra at the gas station. While I can understand that many local areas really need the money, can’t wait forever for the statewide “leaders’ to finally do what’s needed, and it’s easier for state legislators to make someone else raise the taxes, but it’s just simpler to raise the statewide gas tax. It’s hard to argue with Sen. Kirk Watson that this is just another consequence of our failed GOP state leadership in Texas.
“The unfortunate part is that this is being driven by a failure on the part of the state to do its job.”
It would be much better if Carona, and his group of legislators and local elected officials, were pushing hard on state leaders to raise the statewide gas tax. They’ve never tried that, oh they’ve suggested, but they’ve never really leaned on them. It’s not likely Perry’s even going to let this through anyway. It’s clear he sees this as a small local deal for rail, not what the Carona and his bunch have planned for it.
And Gov. Rick Perry’s main transportation adviser indicated Monday that the governor’s initial support of what Carona has in mind was based on using it for rail projects in Dallas-Fort Worth. Expanding it statewide, makes the governor uncomfortable, said Kris Heckman, Perry’s deputy chief of staff.
Like our President said enough of the half-measures and tinkering, these GOP schemes have been tested and they have failed. If you can’t do the work Sen. Carona step aside and let someone else have a go at it, No free ride for TxDOT in the Texas House.
always_question said,
February 17, 2009 at 10:26 am
So…what about the horrible congestion in the Austin area? I would say that is a DIRECT failure of the Democratic “machine” in Travis county…Kirk Watson included. Let’s face it…ALL politicians are idiots…even the “new” president can’t keep his promises and he isnt even a month into office. We have lobbyists in his administration, the largest handout in history, and now he wants new helicopters that will each cost more than the 747 that he flys on.
wcnews said,
February 17, 2009 at 10:41 am
First off, this blog has had plenty of derision for CAMPO, the local Austin pols, and Sen. Watson, just check the archives. The congestion has been caused, not just in Austin but statewide, by a 17 year neglect of our transportation infrastructure. The gas tax has not been raised since 1992, and the price of building roads has definitely increased since then. That statewide transportation policy is set by the state leadership which has been anti any tax since, at the least, the election of Bush as Gov. in ’94.
Eye on Williamson » Texas Blog Round Up (February 23, 2009) said,
February 23, 2009 at 8:46 am
[...] WCNews at Eye On Williamson discusses this sessions attempt at transportation financing, Enough of the half-measures and tinkering. [...]
Texas Progressive Alliance Weekly Round-Up Feb 23, 2009 | BlueBloggin said,
February 23, 2009 at 5:27 pm
[...] WCNews at Eye On Williamson discusses this sessions attempt at transportation financing, Enough of the half-measures and tinkering. [...]
Texas Progressive Alliance Weekly Round-Up Feb 23, 2009 « TruthHugger said,
February 23, 2009 at 5:29 pm
[...] WCNews at Eye On Williamson discusses this sessions attempt at transportation financing, Enough of the half-measures and tinkering. [...]
Lubbock Left » Texas Progressive Alliance Round-Up 2/23/2009 said,
February 23, 2009 at 9:42 pm
[...] WCNews at Eye On Williamson discusses this sessions attempt at transportation financing, Enough of the half-measures and tinkering. [...]
Texas blog roundup for the week of February 23 « Off the Kuff said,
February 24, 2009 at 5:15 am
[...] WCNews at Eye On Williamson discusses this sessions attempt at transportation financing, Enough of the half-measures and tinkering. [...]
Eye on Williamson » Senate fiddles with Carona’s local option bill said,
April 9, 2009 at 8:46 am
[...] care for this bill either but for different reasons than Ogden and the other wing nuts, Enough of the half-measures and tinkering. It does little if anything to address the long term problem caused by years of neglect – see [...]
Eye on Williamson » The problem with the “local option” transportation taxes said,
April 24, 2009 at 10:50 am
[...] abdicating any responsibility for a tax increase. That’s why we have to suffer these half-measures and tinkering instead of our elected representatives taking responsibility, using their power, and doing [...]
Eye on Williamson » HB 300, the TxDOT Sunset bill, needs to die said,
May 27, 2009 at 10:27 pm
[...] Facts that are simply not true? How Orwellian. Here are some of those untrue facts. [...]
Eye on Williamson » Truitt say local option tax is dead said,
May 30, 2009 at 6:21 pm
[...] this year when EOW wrote the post, Enough with the half-measures and tinkering, it was obvious that there was no leadership, or the will, to do anything different than [...]