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Automotive News & Views Is a Higher Gasoline Tax Good Or Bad For America?
849 messages, Last post on Nov 19, 2009 at 2:22 PM
You are in the Automotive News & Views Forum. Your Hosts are steve_ & claires
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Replying to: kernick (Jun 05, 2009 12:54 pm) Husband had no way of knowing wife would contract Alzheimer's disease. I don't agree with his taking out a loan at the age which leaves him where he is today, with a mortgage. I'm his age and saved for our present home, paying cash 1999. Between 18 & 22 I learned about FDR's Supplemental Social Security Act & learned then the KEY word is "Supplemental"..it was never intended to be a mainline retirement fund, but intended to augment our individual savings & investment programs throughout our productive years. We have been savers and investers since 1954 which sacrificed our standard of living to be less than what it could have been. Today's high income folk do not deserve to be taxed more due to their wise frugality of the past. All should pay the same.
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Replying to: fintail (Jun 02, 2009 9:41 am) In theory, yes, but unfortunately the base of that pyramid is starting to crumble. When Social security was first enacted, I think there was something like 21 workers putting in, for every retiree. Today it's something like 3 or 5 workers per retiree. One problem is that people just don't have a bunch of kids like they used to. I think both of my Granddads had something like 6 or 7 siblings...but they lived on farms, where that was more common I guess. But then my grandparents only had 3 kids on my Dad's side, and only 2 on my Mom's. My Mom & Dad only had me. And I don't plan on having kids. Another thing that might be putting pressure on SS is federal employees. In the past, they didn't put into SS, but they didn't collect it either, unless they had enough "quarters" in. However, since around 1983, they started phasing out those federal pensions, and anyone hired after that now puts into SS. So I don't know what the net effect was...whether that helped SS or hurt it more? Social Security was never meant to be enough to retire on, but it was meant to make for a nice supplement. I think I read somewhere, though, that for something like 60% of all retirees, social security is all they have.
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Replying to: andre1969 (Jun 05, 2009 4:21 pm) The public sector pension plans are going to cause just as much of a meltdown, and probably stir a lot of resentment and anger from those who worked in the real world and weren't able to get into the "30 in - out with 80%" scheme that a lot of retiring boomer public servants were able to get away with. On a per retiree basis, those have to be a lot more of a drain on the system than simple SS benefits. By the time I retire, the average age for hanging em up will probably be 70 or more, and any SS I collect might pay for food or leisure, but maybe not much else. Of course, the losers in the last election believe we are headed to a Soviet hell, so I'll have socialized marginal quality housing available gratis anyway 
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Replying to: euphonium (Jun 05, 2009 3:17 pm) Remember who wars are fought to benefit...
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Replying to: fintail (Jun 05, 2009 5:57 pm) |
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"The year is 2020 and the gasoline tax is history. In its place you get a monthly tax bill based on each mile you drove — tracked by a Global Positioning System device in your car and uploaded to a billing center. A federal commission, after a two-year study, concluded earlier this year that the road tax was the "best path forward" to keep revenues flowing to highway and transportation projects, and could be an important new tool to help manage traffic and relieve congestion." Fuel tax could be replaced with by-the-mile road tax (McClatchy)
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Replying to: steve_ (Jul 01, 2009 5:29 pm)
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Replying to: gagrice (Jul 01, 2009 5:48 pm) I used to have my electric meter read remotely in Anchorage. The truck would drive down the street and pick up the radio signals; fast, accurate, no dog bites or tromping through the snow. Here, they still do it manually, and some months they skip my house and "estimate" my usage or they just misread the dial. I don't think I'd like a pay by the mile system where you'd have to keep track and submit your own odometer readings, even if it was an IRS additional line item. The more automatic the better. Doing an annual smog test is a pain, now I have to fool with another form?
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