PA's lameass lameduck gov has vomited up another pant-load of classic left-fascist bile designed to further enslave us simpletons.
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: Opposition mounts to Rendell's transportation funding plan
Opposition mounted quickly yesterday to Gov. Ed Rendell's proposed increase of motor-vehicle fees and taxing of oil companies' profits to generate up to $1 billion a year for highway and bridge improvements and mass-transit agencies.
Republican leaders described Rendell's proposal as a "quick fix" unlikely to gain approval before his term ends in January, and oil industry trade groups said what he wants to do is simply "illegal."
Yet, Sen. Jay Costa, D-Forest Hills, ranking Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, said the proposal is a step in the right direction and inaction to repair deteriorating highways and bridges would "not only be putting Pennsylvanians in jeopardy but putting our financial future in jeopardy as well."
Will anybody ask this cretin what his Party of Blasphemy, Buggery, and 'Bortion has done to maintain our roads and bridges over the last...oh, I don't know... five decades? Don't hold your breath, kiddies.
PennDOT Secretary Allen D. Biehler said state leaders "can't afford to wait" to find ways to plug a $472 million hole created when the federal government shot down the state's plan to impose tolls on Interstate 80 and use proceeds for transportation projects. Even that money, however, would fail to meet transportation needs, according to a Transportation Advisory Committee study suggesting the state needs an extra $3.5 billion a year to do so.
"I don't think the price tag is too high," Biehler said before a bipartisan meeting of House and Senate members.
Under Rendell's proposal, the state would levy an 8 percent tax on the profits of oil companies doing business in Pennsylvania and bar them from passing along the increase to consumers. [Emphasis mine. That's the illegal part, kiddies. But all you need is a couple more Okhrana Supreme Court appointees to fix that. - F.G.] Also, the state would increase more than 60 license, registration and vehicle fees to reflect the inflationary increase since their last adjustment. Some of the latter fees haven't been increased since 1977.
The oil tax would generate an estimated $576 million a year for transportation, and the vehicle fees would raise $434 million, officials said. Of that, 70 percent would go toward highways and bridges. Thirty percent would go toward public transit and, among other things, "allow the Port Authority of Allegheny County to avoid precipitous service cuts," Biehler said.
For those of you unfamiliar with how things work here in the Keystone Gulag, let me assure you that nowhere near 70% of that money will be used to repair roads and bridges. PA kleptocrats have for generations promised exactly the same thing and our infrastructure continues to crumble into dust.
The first thing the power-mad clowns in Harrisburg will do with the money is buy reelection by funding "mass" transit boondoggles in Philly and Pittsburgh. If there is any left it will go to enhance security at the memorials they are building [with our money, of course] for their criminal brethren, Senator Brain Damage and the late, unlamented John "Bad Mutha" Murtha. [And believe me, they will need security, kiddies.]
Note to the secret police: That's not a threat. I'm a political satirist. Kind of like Senator Unfunny-Moron-Who-Steals-Elections-With-The-Votes-Of-Felons from Minnesota. [No, I didn't know he was an Indian either. He must belong to Ward Churchill's tribe.]
Officials from two oil trade groups -- the Harrisburg-based Associated Petroleum Industries of Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Independent Oil & Gas Association in Wexford -- disputed the legality of the proposal. No other states have a similar tax, they said.
Rolf Hanson, executive director of the Associated Petroleum Industries of Pennsylvania, said it would violate the interstate commerce clause of the Constitution that "prevents states from imposing a tax which discriminates against interstate commerce by providing an advantage to local businesses or by burdening out-of-state businesses."
Preventing companies from passing on a related rate increase to consumers in Pennsylvania would harm consumers elsewhere, Hanson said.
Rendell spokesman Gary Tuma said the administration thinks it has "a strong case" to enact the proposal.
That's because nobody in their administration [talk about using a term loosely] has ever had a job, owned or managed a business, or met a payroll.
None dare call what America has become a Kafkaesque nightmare, kiddies. Except for your humble narrator, that is.
Under the proposal, the four-year driver's license fee would increase from $21 to $25, and the annual registration fee for a passenger car would increase from $36 to $49, the governor's office said. The fee for a certificate of title would rise from $22.50 to $31.
The average motorist would face an increase amounting to 33 cents per week, Rendell said. He pointed to polling data that said people support raising vehicle fees, 48 percent to 45 percent.
Golly, I wonder who had to do the math for him.
"Fee increases tend to be more palatable to motorists since they are a one-time expense, as opposed to a gas-tax increase that affects motorists every time they go to the pump," said AAA spokesman Brian Newbacher.
Senate Transportation Chairman John Rafferty, R-Chester County, said the Democratic governor's plan is unlikely to win approval before Rendell leaves office.
"It'll be up to leadership, but I don't see anything on the horizon," Rafferty said. He called the proposal a "quick fix."
Although House Appropriations Chairman Dwight Evans, D-Philadelphia, predicted eventual passage, he said: "I won't tell you we will do it before the (November) election."
"This is all political theater," said Rep. Tim Krieger, R-Hempfield.
Kafkaesque nightmare, kiddies, Kafkaesque nightmare.
No comments:
Post a Comment