St. Paul Shell Game

"As most of us know, the extra monies garnered from this last gas tax hike has been 'peed' away on other 'stuff'."

Oh, that slight of the hand! One of my friends in my BPOU practices magic. He does it for entertainment. However the politicians we elect are not supposed to practice slight of hand politics when then are in session. Especially when they are discussing how to be good stewards of our tax money.

There really is something about transportation and the DFL. This insatiable need to tax the socks off of everyone for transportation that many do not want. And somehow it always seems those transportation bills become linchpins for every other bill being discussed. And just as a reminder, it was not that many years ago a massive gas tax was passed which was supposed to be our panacea for transportation woes for many, many years to come.

What happened? As most of us know, the extra monies garnered from this last gas tax hike has been "peed" away on other "stuff". Now even though we are having more gentle global warming winters, our roads are still a mess. So the clarion cry has gone out once again from the Governor's mansion to raise ye old gas tax. However, this is not an easy sell this time around. Many Republicans remember the career ending decision to go along with the DFL last time this subject came up.

So now the slight of hand. The shell game. Let's not call it a gas tax. Maybe a user fee would be a better synonym. Or maybe just juice up how much we pay for licence tabs. By the way, if you buy a new truck or higher end SUV, it is easy to spend $500 on license tabs right now. What does the DFL want? $1,000 per car per year? Or is it just for the folks who make over $100,000/year. Everybody else would get a pass.

By the way, the DFL has already telegraphed their next punch. More and more think we need a mileage fee in addition to the gas tax. Why? Those darn hybrids and electric cars. They are not paying their fair share. So possibly next session, one of the DFL statists will propose a bill which will mandate some kind of "reader" in every car. This "reader" will allow the government to know where you go, when you go, and how far you go. Hello, Big Brother.

Keep this in mind. Even if the Republicans cave this session, this is never over. It is the bad penny which keeps showing up. The sad part is this - no matter how much that is spent on transportation, the roads always seem to suck every spring. And the shell game continues...