That's the front page headline in the Iowa City DePressed Citizen hard copy edition today.
We're being fed propaganda ladies and gentlemen.
Instead of looking for ways to cut the fat out of state government, some state legislators are being intellectually lazy and making a call to raise taxes.
Maintaining roads is a proper role of government. Having things like an Iowa Film Office are not.
The DePressed Citizen article suggests a 4 cent per gallon tax increase is something the state *needs*. There's also a suggestion about raising user fees and licensing costs.
What is missing from the article? There is absolutely no mention of how much money the state will be spending on roads and infrastructure this year. There is no mention of how much money the state collects in gas tax revenues. There is no mention that road/infrastructure maintenance costs outweight revenues. There's a complaint about construction costs in the article, but no contrasting numbers to make the case for raising taxes. Nothing, nada, zip. Legislators just want us to accept a hike in taxes, they're not showing us WHY a hike is truly needed.
And here's the kicker...... Everybody promoting this so-called *NEED* to raise the gas tax - to include Johnson County Supervisor Janelle Rettig here locally - has completely OMITTED from their rhetoric the revenues collected from gambling that in addition to fuel taxes, licensing and user fees, funds state infrastructure projects.
Check it out, in 2010, $125.6 million from gaming revenues went into the state's Rebuild Iowa Infrastructure Fund. That's NOT mentioned in the PC article, it wasn't mentioned by Janelle Rettig. SHOCKER!
Reference: http://www.iowagaming.org/support/media/reinvesting_in_iowa/pdf/2010_Gaming_Revenues.pdf
Once again ladies and gentlemen, the Coralville Courier is doing the job the local liberal media refuses to do... Tie stories together.....
Related story: http://coralvillecourier.typepad.com/community/2011/12/supervisor-janelle-rettig-misinforms-people-about-gas-tax.html
Contact Gov. Branstad, tell him "NO!" to a gas tax hike. https://governor.iowa.gov/constituent-services/register-opinion
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