Be Happy About Tax Increases? Go F Yourself.

If you live in Massachusetts, you must live under a rock if you don't know that the state is under a huge debt load and the corruptocrats on Beacon Hill are looking under every rock they can find to screw the money out of the taxpayer.

Of course, we're talking higher taxes. An increase in the income tax and to offset the gianormous debt of the Big Dig thats a result of gross mismanagement and malfeasance , toll increases.

Lets set aside for now that I believe that the FBI should be focusing their anti corruption efforts on Big Dig machinations and not chumps like Chuck Turner. That's a topic for another day.

I am actually reading opinions by some stating how happy I should be that the gas tax will be instated in Massachusetts.

Ed Moscovitch is president of Cape Ann Economics. He writes this little ditty in the Boston herald Op Ed section. I've highlighted the stupidest part of his diatribe.


Dear Gov. Patrick,
The commonwealth’s transportation system is falling apart. Transportation maintenance needs exceed likely revenues by over $15 billion; we have 550 structurally deficient bridges. Instead of raising taxes to pay for the Big Dig and related transit projects, your predecessors dumped its debt service on the Turnpike Authority and the MBTA; both of these agencies are now on the brink of bankruptcy. We’re short-changing maintenance on the Big Dig by 90 percent.
Sky-high gas prices last summer have led to an increase in T ridership that will serve us well when prices inevitably go back up. Absent dramatic action, a combination of higher fares and poorer service will put many of those riders back on those same roads we can’t afford to maintain.

Last week I hit a deep pothole in the center lane on I-95 near Attleboro. At 65 mph, there was no swerving, and out went my tire. The cost to replace it is far more than any increase in gas taxes! I was the second driver in 10 minutes to lose a tire; the AAA man told me he’d changed seven flats at that spot the previous evening and notified Mass Highway. And yet, 12 hours later, at the height of the morning rush hour, nothing had been done. If it isn’t safe to drive at legal speeds down our interstates or over our bridges, Massachusetts - and its economy - will quite literally grind to a halt.

Absent any other funding source, the Turnpike board proposes doubling tolls on the Harbor tunnels and the Boston extension. This is flagrantly unfair; why should East Boston residents pay so much to support a road through downtown that mainly benefits commuters from the South Shore and the Route 93 corridor, who pay no tolls at all? And it won’t bring in the predicted revenues; at these prices many people will avoid the Pike and the tunnels.

It’s hard to believe that we’ve let the price of gasoline fall from $4.25 to $1.75 and not raised the gas tax. Let’s not wait until the price begins to rise; work out an agreement with the speaker and Senate president this week, call a major press conference, lay out the dimensions of the crisis, and demand that the Legislature act by mid-January.
Propose an increase of 25 cents; that’s still peanuts in the face of a $2.50 drop in gas prices. Relate the tax to the price of gas - when the price someday goes back up, the tax should go up with it. The anger at 25 cents will be no worse than at 5 cents, but an increase this large will give you enough money to fund half of the deferred maintenance, cover the Big Dig-related debt of the Turnpike and the T, avoid the proposed toll increases, and give cities and towns a modest increase in road funds.

Link this increase to key efficiency changes. With workers allowed to retire at age 43, T pensions are far more generous than those in the private sector. In return for increased state road money, require cities and towns to adopt the sensible (and politically courageous) guidelines for limiting police details that you’ve set for state projects.

Of course, some people will be angry at you for proposing a tax increase. But many of us will be angry if you continue to jeopardize our safety - and our economy - by spending too little. In the long run, a decisive, well-argued case for action may well enhance your political standing.
If you make a compelling case you’ll find legislative and business support. But you’re the governor; it can’t happen unless you step out and lead. You ran for the job and won it; now’s the time we need you!


So, what this hole is saying is that he can't believe the price of gas made its proper adjustment without tacking a tax on it. Forget doing anything intelligent, like level funding, combining agencies, telling the unions to F themselves with mandated pay raises, just jump straight into additional taxes.

Here's the thing about a gas tax. Its a per gallon tax, so no matter how high or low the price goes, its always there. Remember when gas was 4.00 a gallon and we wanted to suspend it? Where are those folks now? What happens if gas goes back up. OPEC is trying to inflate the cost of a barrel of oil by cutting production. They've done it twice in as many months. Then where are we? Getting drilled in the can yet again.

I work for a company on the brink of collapse. Guess what we did?

1) Cut Executive pay & benefit programs
2) Sorry, no raises this year
3) Unprofitable part of the company? Sorry, we're closing it to save money
4) Can we sell this part of the Company off or privatize it?
5) Sorry, but this year no bonus
6) Duplicity means we're paying the different folks to do the same job. One of you needs to go

Get the point? My wallet is not an endless supply of money for your indulgence. Its time to start running this state like a business, and not a playground.