"They are imposing the toll in addition to the gasoline taxes we already pay."
Letters to the Editor:
Corridor would raise Texas taxes
February 18, 2006
The Victoria Advocate
Copyright 2006
What is particularly disturbing about the nearly quarter-mile-wide system of highways, railroad lines, water lines and utility lines that may crisscross Texas called the Trans-Texas Corridor is that the thing is a method of taxing Texans under the guise of calling it a toll. Is it possible the corridor is more about raising taxes than it is about transportation?
I suppose that politicians who claim to be in favor of lower taxes think Texans won't know the difference. A toll is a tax, and if they start tolling our highways, they are raising our taxes, pure and simple. No amount of spin can change that. They are imposing the toll in addition to the gasoline taxes we already pay.
Of course, the taxation doesn't stop with the toll. I have read that upwards of 580,000 acres in Texas will be completely removed from the tax rolls of counties and school districts. At 1,200 feet wide, that amounts to 146 acres per road mile. I wonder if county governments and school districts can absorb this reduction in this tax base without increasing our taxes to offset the loss.
Another almost unbelievable aspect of the Trans-Texas Corridor is that our politicians, if they are finally able to push it through, plan to contract with a foreign company as majority partner to build the corridor, collect the tolls and manage it. Also, the state of Texas has to subsidize the foreign company and their partners until they become profitable. That would really be a sweet deal if it is true.
Let's ask candidates for public office what their position is on the Trans-Texas Corridor so we can know for sure whether they favor raising taxes or reducing them.
J.E. HOLLAN
Victoria
Copyright 2006 The Victoria Advocate:www.thevictoriaadvocate.com
Corridor would raise Texas taxes
February 18, 2006
The Victoria Advocate
Copyright 2006
What is particularly disturbing about the nearly quarter-mile-wide system of highways, railroad lines, water lines and utility lines that may crisscross Texas called the Trans-Texas Corridor is that the thing is a method of taxing Texans under the guise of calling it a toll. Is it possible the corridor is more about raising taxes than it is about transportation?
I suppose that politicians who claim to be in favor of lower taxes think Texans won't know the difference. A toll is a tax, and if they start tolling our highways, they are raising our taxes, pure and simple. No amount of spin can change that. They are imposing the toll in addition to the gasoline taxes we already pay.
Of course, the taxation doesn't stop with the toll. I have read that upwards of 580,000 acres in Texas will be completely removed from the tax rolls of counties and school districts. At 1,200 feet wide, that amounts to 146 acres per road mile. I wonder if county governments and school districts can absorb this reduction in this tax base without increasing our taxes to offset the loss.
Another almost unbelievable aspect of the Trans-Texas Corridor is that our politicians, if they are finally able to push it through, plan to contract with a foreign company as majority partner to build the corridor, collect the tolls and manage it. Also, the state of Texas has to subsidize the foreign company and their partners until they become profitable. That would really be a sweet deal if it is true.
Let's ask candidates for public office what their position is on the Trans-Texas Corridor so we can know for sure whether they favor raising taxes or reducing them.
J.E. HOLLAN
Victoria
Copyright 2006 The Victoria Advocate:
posted by Porkus Maximus Tex: at Saturday, February 18, 2006
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