They also drive more miles with less fuel efficient vehicles. They are taxed more.

I think only 50% of the gas/oil tax actually makes it to the State Highway Fund. The rest goes to Rainy Day Fund.

In 2024, it will shift back to 25% to SHF without a re-up by the leg.

Sq4fish83 said:

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dead said:

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Agreed. There's definitely some fat that can be trimmed off of the defense budget.

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The state of Texas has a defense budget? Tell us more.

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He wants to defend the police.

Move to California. All your socialist dreams will come true there. Texas sent a clear message with a double digit landslide victory in every statewide race for Republicans that we don't want that Marxist communist garbage here. In California you can easily pay your whole salary to the government in taxes and then live in their crime infested cities like San Francisco where Democrat Chesa Boudin legalized murder or Los Angeles where murderers are getting Democrat George Gascon name tattooed on their body.

Cromagnum said:

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twk said:

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Slicer97 said:

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B-1 83 said:

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aggiepanic95 said:

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Predmid said:

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... the gas tax does need to be raised.

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Wrong. Exactly no taxes need to be raised. Government spending needs to be slashed and its size greatly reduced.

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And how do you propose to pay for the ridiculous amount of highway work that needs so be done, not only in Texas, but nationwide?

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Cut senseless gubmint spending programs and redirect those funds to something useful.

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While I sympathize with the argument that too much of the gas tax is being diverted to stuff other than highway construction, the argument that we should take tax revenue from other sources and use it to build roads is not very sensible. Roads should pay their own way -- that's always been the idea behind a gas tax, not that drivers should get a free ride from other taxpayers.

So, while I don't want my gas tax money being used to fund rapid transit vanity projects in the cities, I would understand if they raised the gas tax to keep it in line with today's costs, so long as they also find a way to tax EV's and get them to carry their share of the load.

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Now do schools for those that don't have kids.

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That's a really poor attempt at a derail. Totally separate issue (and a really poor argument to make at that).

Don't forget about the revenue generated by tollways.

Funky Winkerbean said:

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Don't forget about the revenue generated by tollways.

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Completely separate issues, but I would like to see transparent fiscal reports for anyway tollway that used taxpayer funding. Some of these tollways have paid themselves 100x's over and remain tollways. I can see that investors wanting to get a good ROI, but damn perpetual tolls us kinda BS.

TRADUCTOR said:

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They need more $$$ taxed to build toll roads.

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I hate toll roads. After driving toll roads in multiple states, I've noticed they tend to be the worst taken care of. I would say very little of toll road fees actually go back into said road.

If vehicle use is supposed to pay for roads, we do need to revisit this funding method. EVs need to share the burden.

And toll roads are a whole 'nother matter. Too many places stupidly sold their soul to Satan to get that new road 5 years earlier and will pay for it perpetually.

If only the electorate was smart enough to realize what percentage of their income they're already giving to government

twk said:

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Cromagnum said:

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twk said:

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Slicer97 said:

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B-1 83 said:

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aggiepanic95 said:

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Predmid said:

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... the gas tax does need to be raised.

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Wrong. Exactly no taxes need to be raised. Government spending needs to be slashed and its size greatly reduced.

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And how do you propose to pay for the ridiculous amount of highway work that needs so be done, not only in Texas, but nationwide?

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Cut senseless gubmint spending programs and redirect those funds to something useful.

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While I sympathize with the argument that too much of the gas tax is being diverted to stuff other than highway construction, the argument that we should take tax revenue from other sources and use it to build roads is not very sensible. Roads should pay their own way -- that's always been the idea behind a gas tax, not that drivers should get a free ride from other taxpayers.

So, while I don't want my gas tax money being used to fund rapid transit vanity projects in the cities, I would understand if they raised the gas tax to keep it in line with today's costs, so long as they also find a way to tax EV's and get them to carry their share of the load.

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Now do schools for those that don't have kids.

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That's a really poor attempt at a derail. Totally separate issue (and a really poor argument to make at that).

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Agree that it's a separate issue, but the principle isn't different. It should be a usage tax. People pay school taxes disproportionately because it's attached to the value of their property. It should be attached to how many kids they have. If you want to charge a baseline for zero kids, go ahead.

As for vehicles it is still disproportionate as fuel tax is a function of fuel economy when it should be a function of vehicular weight and miles driven. I would far be in support of eliminating the fuel component of the tax and placing it on miles driven.

Like I said, the school issue is a separate subject. Let's leave it at that.

I like the idea of a mileage tax replacing gas tax, but there are problems with it. Which state collects the tax? I live near the Red River and we see a bunch of Oklahoma plates over here as a lot of Okies actually work in Texas (and I'm sure there is some going the other way as well). Oklahoma collecting a mileage tax would do nothing for Texas road usage, so do you actually allow the government to track what miles are driven where? That gets pretty intrusive.

TRADUCTOR said:

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They need more $$$ taxed to build toll roads.

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That was more of a RePORKlican thing though.
We should not pay 2x for roads.

But I do like driving fast.

Best I can come up with is link milage to state in which vehicle is registered as default, option to self-report percent of milage estimated to be driven in other states. I don't know if that could be abused, but figured people would want their taxes spent where they drive themselves the most.

boboguitar said:

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Predmid said:

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Of all the taxes that exist, the gas tax is one of the more fair systems. The more you drive, the more gas you buy the more in road taxes you pay.


It is quite elegant in that regard.

As to your question "what percentage of your labor should be taxed".

Labor shouldn't be taxed. Consumption and possibly value added should. Gas tax is a consumption tax. Sales tax is a consumption tax.

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If anything, we should raise the rates on truckers as their trucks do way way more damage to the roads than cars.

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This tax will be born by the consumers.

Quote:

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If anything, we should raise the rates on truckers as their trucks do way way more damage to the roads than cars.

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Ever notice those 200 gallon saddle tanks on the Peterbilts that get 5 mpg? They're already paying substantially higher rates and passing it right on to their end users.

Wow, this thread is amazing. First off there is the "gas tax hasn't tracked with inflation" posts. Fuel costs are a major component of transportation costs. Rising transportation costs are a significant driver of inflation. See where I'm going here? When you raise the costs of fuel you raise the costs of virtually everything that gets transported.

Then there was raising the taxes for just truckers. See above.

Then there was tax by mileage instead of by fuel purchased. Once again, see above.

So many on here are focused on individual drivers and not the unintended consequence of further driving inflation. Our country and specifically our state needs a break from rising costs. Some people are having a hard enough time putting food on the table as it is.

From the article:

"Indeed, Eckhardt's campaign website lists four priorities: COVID-19 recovery, criminal justice reform because "racism and over-policing in our country are deep and predate George Floyd's murder by centuries," public education, and addressing climate change."

Tells you all you need to know about Sarah Eckhardt.

Battery in the F150 ev is 1800 lbs!

Wtf is that right?

MostlyHarmless said:

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Wow, this thread is amazing. First off there is the "gas tax hasn't tracked with inflation" posts. Fuel costs are a major component of transportation costs. Rising transportation costs are a significant driver of inflation. See where I'm going here? When you raise the costs of fuel you raise the costs of virtually everything that gets transported.

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So, you think the cost of road construction and maintenance doesn't go up? Or we should just do less of that?

Quote:

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Then there was tax by mileage instead of by fuel purchased. Once again, see above.

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The idea here is that there are currently drivers of EVs who are getting a free ride at the expense of folks driving gas powered vehicles. Having EV drivers carry their share of the load might lessen the burden on other drivers.

You can't stick your head in the sand and say, prices are rising therefore, we should just collect less taxes. That's now how you fight inflation. You're treating the symptoms and not the illness.

Cut taxes. Cut spending even more.

A wise man once gave me the following piece of advice: "However much money you make, spend less than that."

He should have told the federal gubmint instead of me.

Stat Monitor Repairman said:

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Battery in the F150 ev is 1800 lbs!

Wtf is that right?

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Dealerships are being required - by manufacturers - to buy forklifts solely for the purpose of moving those batteries. To say they're incredibly heavy would be a gross understatement.

twk said:

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MostlyHarmless said:

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Wow, this thread is amazing. First off there is the "gas tax hasn't tracked with inflation" posts. Fuel costs are a major component of transportation costs. Rising transportation costs are a significant driver of inflation. See where I'm going here? When you raise the costs of fuel you raise the costs of virtually everything that gets transported.

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So, you think the cost of road construction and maintenance doesn't go up? Or we should just do less of that?

Quote:

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Then there was tax by mileage instead of by fuel purchased. Once again, see above.

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The idea here is that there are currently drivers of EVs who are getting a free ride at the expense of folks driving gas powered vehicles. Having EV drivers carry their share of the load might lessen the burden on other drivers.

You can't stick your head in the sand and say, prices are rising therefore, we should just collect less taxes. That's now how you fight inflation. You're treating the symptoms and not the illness.

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On the road construction and maintenance thing, as others have said have all the taxes from gas go to that instead of other programs. Also, start cutting programs that are wasteful or that the government shouldn't be involved in.

As for the mileage thing is concerned, there are other ways to get money from EV owners. As swampdog01 said, have EV owners pay an annual highway fee. Using mileage is way too complicated and affects truckers as well as EV owners and as I said raises the costs of all goods transported. Being so complicated it would raise the cost of collecting those taxes as well.

Edit: Also, I didn't say anything about lowering the gas tax. I am just saying we should not raise it.

I think that ALL Texas Democrats who think this is a good idea should have THEIR gas tax doubled while the rest of of continue paying the current rate.

Let them voluntarily do it to show they really believe in it.

Predmid said:

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That's two separate issues. Infrastructure spending on a constitutionally mandated responsibility of the government is generally good.

All the social welfare programs and foreign aid shenanigans are bad. One can be FOR appropriate transportation funding and against other taxes.


And we do need to raise gas taxes. Doubling is extreme.

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No, we don't. We are taxed beyond enough.

Spending needs to be cut. About 75% of the entire federal government needs to disappear.

boboguitar said:

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Predmid said:

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Of all the taxes that exist, the gas tax is one of the more fair systems. The more you drive, the more gas you buy the more in road taxes you pay.


It is quite elegant in that regard.

As to your question "what percentage of your labor should be taxed".

Labor shouldn't be taxed. Consumption and possibly value added should. Gas tax is a consumption tax. Sales tax is a consumption tax.

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If anything, we should raise the rates on truckers as their trucks do way way more damage to the roads than cars.

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Already taken care of bruh. Diesel is taxed about 50 cents/gallon more than regular unleaded. Got 'em!

B-1 83 said:

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aggiepanic95 said:

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Predmid said:

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... the gas tax does need to be raised.

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Wrong. Exactly no taxes need to be raised. Government spending needs to be slashed and its size greatly reduced.

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And how do you propose to pay for the ridiculous amount of highway work that needs so be done, not only in Texas, but nationwide?

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Here is a start:

Department of Human Health Services - $1.6 TRILLION budget
Department of The Treasury - $700 billion budget
Department of Education - $185 billion budget
Office of Personnel Management - $119 billion budget
Department of Homeland Security - $83 billion budget
Department of Labor - $81 billion budget
Other Defense Civil Programs - $72 billion budget
Department of Housing and Urban Development - $66 billion budget
Department of Energy - $51 billion budget
Department of Justice - $43.5 billion budget
Other independent agencies - $36 billion budget
International Assistance Programs - $27.5 billion budget
Department of Commerce - $16 billion budget
EPA - $15 billion budget
Corps of Engineers - $7 billion budget
Legislative Branch - $7 billion budget (what costs this much?????)
Other independent agencies - $2.5 billion
Small Business Admin - $1.7 billion
Executive Office of the President (?) - $591 million

Total - $3.114 TRILLION. TRILLION.

That doesn't even touch defense, social security, department of interior, department of Ag, and several others.

AggDogg61 said:

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Ag87H2O said:

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Add this to your checklist of reasons Texans should never vote for a Democrat. They would turn Texas into California within 5 years.

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I would give them two.

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No? Gasoline and diesel are both under a $0.20/gallon tax.

dead said:

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No? Gasoline and diesel are both under a $0.20/gallon tax.

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Diesel is $.365 per gallon

I guess the Comptroller's website is wrong then, my apologies.
Taxes - Diesel Fuel

dead said:

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I guess the Comptroller's website is wrong then, my apologies.
Taxes - Diesel Fuel

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Next time you fill up at a pump, look at the tags. Diesel has been 36.5 cents per gallon for a long, long time unless it was changed fairly recently.

schmellba99 said:

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dead said:

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I guess the Comptroller's website is wrong then, my apologies.
Taxes - Diesel Fuel

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Next time you fill up at a pump, look at the tags. Diesel has been 36.5 cents per gallon for a long, long time unless it was changed fairly recently.

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Are you combining state and federal taxes?