Gas tax increase for roads, bridges, etc. (buy, money)

[molochai2580]

I wouldn't mind a gas tax increase if it actually went to the roads. I have a feeling though that it's going to go to "pet projects" of the government. I already pay enough for gas (about $500/month) because my husband has to drive 65 miles one way to go to work. It was the only job that would pay enough to cover our basic living expenses. Before you slam me though I have done the research and there isn't a job that would pay enough for us to cover our bills in the town we live in even if I take off our monthly driving expenses.

We got caught in the housing bubble and rather than walk away we refinanced and cut out all our extra expenses. Right now the market isn't good enough for us to sell our house and downsize, so I'm stuck.

[laplander]

The gov. needs to budget their money more efficiently, no doubt about it. I worked a civil service job, i seen the waste of money...so much money was allowed for different departments, if all the money wasn't used, the chances of getting that amount next fiscal yr. may not happen. The extra money was used on unnecessary items, new office furniture was always popular, even though the old stuff was only a yr old.

[sickofMN]

I think its funny that we get this refund of money coming from the gov't and then the dumbocraps, I mean democrats decide to raise taxes. Is that there solution to everything? We are considering moving to OK because this state is out of control with its spending. My husband gets a 6% raise every year and every year our property taxes go up, meanwhile our house isn't worth much more than it was last year. They raise taxes to give to the schools, but where does it go? You cannot live on one income here. It's next to impossible. My husband has a good job, but we are now considering moving out of this state, where we have both lived our entire lives, because we can't afford it anymore. Meanwhile anyone who wants to pop out six kids and not get married gets a free house, welfare, and food stamps while she sits on her arse doing crack. I know, cuz she's my brother in laws girlfriend. They have more stuff than we do!! They get it all for free just because she didn't want to use birth control. We've lived in our house for 3 1/2 years and our property taxes were $2K when we moved in. It is now over $3K. If we sold our house, we'd get back nothing. We'd break even basically. That is how crappy it is.

And MN's aren't very nice either. I think they are just two faced.

[nick is rulz]

thats very true, there is a state law in place called the "stay at home and have kids and smoke crack for free stuff" law. The more kids you have and crack you smoke, the more free stuff you get!!!!

[MidniteBreeze]

Originally Posted by newcastle

Pawlenty is a hypocrit because he doesn't "tax" people he just adds more "fees" to everything so he can proclaim he is against taxes.

Couldn't agree more.

But the democrats aren't much better either. I really thought proposing (let alone passing) a gas tax in this day and age would be political suicide! Apparently not...plenty of you seem to be OK with this.

MN is one of the highest taxed states in the country, yet we have some of the crappiest infrastructure. Why is this? What have we been spending all of our "road" money on all these years? We had to wait for a bridge to collapse before we realized this should be a priority? Now the only answer is to raise MORE taxes?

WHERE, may I ask, ARE our tax dollars going? And how much more can we (meaning average joe, middle class Minnesotan) be expected to shell out before we ALL cut our losses and start heading to Texas (or wherever?)

I moved back to MN after living in Colorado for 5 years. There is much I love about MN (and Colorado certainly isn't without its problems), but I'm seriously starting to wonder if this was a bad move for us financially. After being away, I guess I had forgotten how infuriating Minnesota politcs are.

[MidniteBreeze]

Originally Posted by nick is rulz

thats very true, there is a state law in place called the "stay at home and have kids and smoke crack for free stuff" law. The more kids you have and crack you smoke, the more free stuff you get!!!!

I know this was probably intended to be a "tongue in cheek" comment, but there is actually some truth to it.

Granted what I am about to say could be dismissed as "anecdotal", but it's a good example of what many of us see every day:

I have a friend who lives in a low rent duplex in a less than desireable neighborhood in Duluth. She works full time as a maid at a hotel. They offer health insurance, but she can't afford the premiums. She busts her butt so she can pay her rent, buy her groceries and put gas in her 11 year old car so she can (you guessed it) go to work.

Living upstairs of her is a woman with two kids. She and her children get free healthcare, free food stamps and section 8 rent. She sits home all day and doesn't even bother getting out of bed until after noon some days. Even though her kids are both in school, she makes no attempt to get a job or otherwise do anything to be self-sufficient. I don't know about you, but if things remain the way they are, my money says she never will.

Granted neither of them live a cushy life in the lap of luxury. But it would sure would be easy for my friend to quit her job, pop out a kid or two and have the same (well, actually BETTER) standard of living she does now, for a lot less work. (Not that parenting isn't hard work, but as you can imagine, this woman upstairs isn't exactly mother of the year.)

As others have pointed out, I believe any "civilized" society should have programs in place to help people out who who need it. But in todays' "entitled" society, welfare (and related programs) have gone far past "safety net" and become a way of life. This is NOT what these programs were intended for!

Someone earlier asked if there was a link between welfare and bridges? Absolutely. Just think how many bridges we could build (both literally and figuratively) if people took responsibility for their own lives!

[nick is rulz]

I think the argument goes beyond just the statement of people taking advantage of the system. If someone wants to be a welfare rat their whole lives and thats the extent of their goals then fine. I think its pathetic but it doesnt keep me awake at night worrying about what portion of my salary goes to them.

If I had no skills, and could earn $6 an hour to work full time at a department store or restaurant and get zero benefits or collect welfare and earn more, I would opt for welfare as well. Now, a part of that can be blamed on the government being too lax, but a bigger part can be blamed on penny pinching corporations lowballing their employees. Everyones so concerned about the possibility of recession and how the economy is slowing when all it really takes is to adjust living wages accordingly so they are in sync with inflation.

[kuan]

There could be reasons people stay on welfare. If I were a single mom and had two kids you bet I'd try and make sure that I get the services I need for my children. Other than that, there really is no reason why any "normal" person should want to stay on welfare. Personally, in a smaller town, with milder climate, and a good bicycle of course, I think it's quite possible for a single healthy person to live on $12/hr. My wife and I did it when we were first starting out. In fact, I started at $6.25/hr. The trouble is in weathering the $6.25/hr years before you get to $12/hr. Heck we bought a brand new Ford Taurus at $12/hr.

I think two things that are holding us back are the cost of getting to work and the fear of, fear, not the actual cost, of healthcare. We're all sold on the single catastrophic event that might bankrupt us for life. It paralyzes our spirit. People need to be able to work without such threats, perceived or otherwise, looming over their heads.

[MidniteBreeze]

Well, here's another (true) story:

Another friend of mine got pregnant when she was young (20). As is typical with many of those situations, the father-to-be was not going to be much help. She had to go on welfare to get help with housing, pre-natal care, food, etc. and stayed on it until the baby was about 18 months old. BUT, instead of opting for a life "leeching off the system", she went to school (while she was still pregnant) for a health unit coordinator certificate. Once the baby was old enough, she went to work and has not been on welfare (OR had more kids) since. THAT'S the way it's supposed to work and as a taxpayer, I have no problem paying out to help people like her get on their feet.

What I DO have a problem with is people who EXPECT us to take care of them and their children--indefinitely--because they're too lazy to better themselves. And in most cases, that cycle will continue...kids of bums usually end up as bums themselves. I know that sounds harsh, but most of the time, it's reality. I've seen it a million times. And you're either blind or lying to yourself if you don't see that this is a BIG drain on society.

Yes, it's hard to live off $8 hour and there is no easy fix for that segment of the population who lack marketable skills and/or the wherewithall to make it through school or a job training program (which I would MUCH rather pay for than long-term welfare benefits). But if you can't even take care of yourself, PLEASE stop making babies! Why are YOUR kids MY responsibility?

In attempt to (sort of) get back to the main topic, I do realize there are other factors besides welfare contributing to the fact that our infrastructure is in such a sad state of affiars. But it makes me angry to think that we have innocent (productive!) peole DYING in needless accidents because we don't have the money to keep our bridges safe...yet we're all too happy to continue to give handouts to the lazy.

Instead of looking at ways to scale back this state's out of control spending, our politicians' first reaction is to simply squeeze MORE money from the taxpayers. Something's very wrong here.

[MidniteBreeze]

"I think the argument goes beyond just the statement of people taking advantage of the system. If someone wants to be a welfare rat their whole lives and thats the extent of their goals then fine. I think its pathetic but it doesnt keep me awake at night worrying about what portion of my salary goes to them."

I guess I don't understand why you are so OK with this? Why shouldn't you be concerned with where your tax dollars are going? Wouldn't you rather have them go toward maintaining bridges and roads (or heck, even state park improvements...something YOU can benefit from) rather than to support some "welfare rat?"

"If I had no skills, and could earn $6 an hour to work full time at a department store or restaurant and get zero benefits or collect welfare and earn more, I would opt for welfare as well."

That's the problem. We make it too easy for people to be lazy. So maybe you (meaning a hypothetical "you" of course) have no skills. But you can LEARN some. There's help out there for training and schooling . But we do nothing to motivate people. It's far easier for you to sit on your butt than to invest the time and effort required to learn a new skill. I also love in your last line how you say you can "earn" more on welfare. You're not EARNING anything.

"Now, a part of that can be blamed on the government being too lax, but a bigger part can be blamed on penny pinching corporations lowballing their employees. Everyones so concerned about the possibility of recession and how the economy is slowing when all it really takes is to adjust living wages accordingly so they are in sync with inflation."

I don't have much sypmathy for greedy corporations and I agree that many of them could stand to cut their profit margins a little (don't get me started on the oil companies), but I don't think it's as easy as all that. I'm certainly no economist, but my understandig is if we simply "raise wages", it just makes the cost of goods and services go up for everyone and we ALL have to earn more in order to keep up with rising costs.

No one said there were any easy fixes to these problems, but (again, trying to get back to the main topic), I don't think putting more and more tax burdens on working people during an economic slowdown is the answer. It's certainly not going to do anything to help the economy. It's time for our government to tighten the belt and cut out unncessary spending, just like the rest of us!!