Houston Chronicle underling Nolan Hicks is late to the Texas transportation funding game and it shows. If you follow Hicks then you know he writes with a liberal bent. So, it’s no surprise that he would play pat-a-cake with Democrat lawmaker Joe Pickett of El Paso, Hicks painting a bleak picture transportation funding picture while giving lawmakers cover to do nothing this session to address the issue.
The working premise is the same as it was in 2009, Texas does not have enough money to continue with projected expenditures. Pickett gives a poor quote to illustrate:
Right now, a lot of the elected officials think that there’s all this fat in the budget and that TxDOT just needs to run a more efficient agency,” Pickett said. “What they don’t realize is that there just isn’t enough money.
First of all TxDOT needs to be run more efficiently. Second, we need to prioritize where funds are being spent. Lawmakers need to use current revenue and focus on high congestion problem spots. Third, local governments need to dedicated sales tax revenues to congestion instead of passing the buck to the state.
Hicks has the gal to suggest Texas California’s lead and have local officials propose a sales tax increase to fund road projects. Local officials already have sales tax dollars they captured from the state claiming they would use it for local transportation projects. They have not used it for roads but for convention centers and other development projects.
The dirty secret is likely that some lawmakers and special interests want to stress the system to the breaking point in order to bleed more tax dollars out of Texans who are already reeling from a recession and constantly rising taxes. Lawmakers can ill afford to do nothing. If lawmakers leave town in 2011 without ending diversions they are delaying the first step in upping transportation funding until 2013. Increased taxation will only come after currently alloted funds are properly used.
Some legislators who are paying attention according to the article: Larry Phillips, R – Sherman who says there is little appetite to push for the failed messaging of “local option” and John Carona (gasp), R – Dallas who seems to be taking a step back from the same option proposals sought last session.
Referenced article
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It would seem so. In the case of tax increases disguised as fees, Dewhurst will gamble that citizens don’t figure him out or don’t care that they are being squeezed out of more hard earned money. This is the thin dime approach all over again.
Dewhurst, raising a mandatory vehicle registration fee constitutes a tax on people that drive cars, there is no choice. Of course the Dallas Morning News would diligently carry the water for such a measure. The DMN will soon be hiding their raise taxes garbage from non paying users.
Actually Texans will have a choice, they will choose who they want to represent them in the U.S. Senate.
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Tagged: David Dewhurst · Fees
The latest transportation wire from the Morning News will have TURF and other TTC activists hearing rotary blades. Michael Lindenberger relays that the Texas Sunset Advisory panel voted to disband the Transportation Commission and allow the Governor to appoint a single commissioner.
Perry would appoint that commissioner, just as he has all five of the highway chiefs who now oversee the department, and the appointment would have to be confirmed by the Senate.
The move is being sold as a way to stop the constant passing of the buck since the commissioner will be held accountable by the Governor and the Gov by the people. We’ll see. A move like this is sure to do is stir up Texans who were used to attack free market solutions for our infrastructure issues.
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Texas Senator Tommy Williams (R – Woodlands) would like more of your money. That money is wanted so badly that he is willing to be tricky about it getting it. Instead of transparently calling for a tax hike Williams and other pro tax hike groups like the Dallas Morning News are asking, “is a transportation fee really a tax?”
Stealthy as an assortment of fees is they are still dollars Texans can little afford to part with. The scheme that Williams has in mind is nothing new, increasing registration fees or instituting new fees altogether to fund the transportation industrial complex. And while the fee scheme might catch some Texans off guard most are beyond that swap and semantic game legislators have been prone to play.
Despite what might just be musing Williams has remarks on the likely approach that Texas legislators will take this session that will leave taxpayers smirking and government renting special interests grimacing:
it’s more likely that this session will be spent making changes to how Texas operates and how its projects are selected to better its reputation among lawmakers and the public.
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Tagged: Dallas Morning News · Fees · is a transportation fee really a tax · Tommy Williams
Despite an overwhelming call for restraint in spending and a rejection of the status quo issued by voters this November liberal elected officials and editorial boards continue to call for increased taxation for transportation.
Right now the status quo on transportation in Texas’ House is Joe Pickett. Currently, Picket D – El Paso is Chairman of Transportation and was appointed by moderate Republican Speaker Joe Straus. Between the session’s end in May of 2009 and the Nov election Joe Pickett has voiced his support of raising gas taxes. Chairing a committee gives a Representative purview to drive an issue and that’s why it’s important to have leaders in place that reflect the will of the electorate.
Right now there are groups calling for a conservative speaker and others working more directly to Stop Joe Straus. One thing is certain, Texas voted last week for smaller government and that includes finding solutions within current revenue to address the state’s transportation needs.
Texans need a speaker that understands our need for smarter transportation funding and spending who will appoint responsible leaders not continue with the same old same old.
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