By Mike Thayer
Legislators that want to raise your taxes are using a report that claims funding for Iowa roads maintenance faces a shortfall in the Road Use Tax Fund (RUTF) of $215 million annually for the next 20 years.
The government has a problem with budgets and improperly spends taxpayer money every year, so I don't know how anyone can put much stock in a 20 year guess.
We should question the report and ask for more details. Which roads are the worst, what bridges need repair exactly, what's the cost and the time frame? Does road 'x' benefit the state's economy?
And we're being offered a set of false choices here. The report outlines proposals to generate more revenue for highway maintenance, things like raising the gas tax, increasing licensing fees for vehicles, trailers, charging hybrid vehicles an added fee, that kind of thing.
Why are legislators defaulting to tax hikes, instead of looking first to cutting some fat from state government in any and all areas?
You can't tell me that government can't find at LEAST $215 million in excessive administrative costs from any/all state departments, that there isn't service duplication and other cost savings to be had.
The legislators making a call to raise taxes haven't really even begun to exhaust all opportunties to trim state government fat. They're being intellectually lazy, they are taking the easy way out, making a call for tax hikes. That's not doing the right thing, that's not good governance.
Further, the report these legislators are using to promote their tax hike, the report that focuses on the Road Use Tax Fund (RUTF) does NOT include revenues received from the gambling industry. Did you know that gaming industry profits put $125.6 million into the Rebuild Iowa Infrastructure Fund (RIIF)? No, you most likely don't because these tax hike fellas didn't tell you, it doesn't further their agenda. It's a different fund than the RUTF mentioned in the first paragraph! Legislators didn't mention that, isn't that weird? Granted, not all of that $125.6 million in the gambling subsidized RIIF goes to roads, some of it is for buildings and airports and such, but a big chunk of that does indeed go towards road maintenance. Legislators pushing this tax hike are NOT being up front with you. That supposed $215 million shortfall for road maintenance figure in the Road Use Tax Fund comes down quite a bit when you subtract some of that $125.6 million coming from the gambling industry subsidized RIIF.
If you trim some state government fat, add in the gaming industry tax collection, you don't have a shortfall.
And here's something else you don't read in that report. The state recently invested millions of dollars in upgrading Interstate 80 running through Coralville. A redesign of the interchange at 1st Avenue was NOT part of the plan, it wasn't a phase of the construction, it wasn't determined to be necessary. But you have the city *leaders* of Coralville going in AFTER the fact, after the upgrade is near completion, requesting an unecessary interchange redesign to promote their pet project, the Iowa River Landing. They SAY it's in the name of safety, but that's just window dressing..... Literally. That's going to cost taxpayers more money, it's not NEEDED, it's a WANT and that kind of thing isn't considered in the report being touted by the tax hikers.
The gas tax hike proposal is a set of false choices.
Comments