Both the Democrat Matt and the Libertarian Matt have suggested raising the Texas gas tax. What is it with these Matts?
Showing posts with label gas tax. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gas tax. Show all posts
Friday, October 26, 2012
Watch Out for The Matt Tax!
Here's a new ad from Texans for Tony Dale:
Both the Democrat Matt and the Libertarian Matt have suggested raising the Texas gas tax. What is it with these Matts?
Both the Democrat Matt and the Libertarian Matt have suggested raising the Texas gas tax. What is it with these Matts?
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Get Out the Vote Rally With Tony and Ted
This Thursday, October 25, U.S. Senate nominee Ted Cruz will join State Representative nominee Tony Dale at the Cedar Park branch of the Williamson County Republican Party Headquarters for a Get Out The Vote rally. The event will be from 4:30 to 5:45 pm, and attendees will have a chance to meet Ted Cruz, Tony Dale, and many of the other Republicans on the November 2012 ballot.
If you need to get up to speed on the Senate race, a great source on Ted Cruz is Lawrence Person's Battleswarm Blog.
Tony Dale is the popular Cedar Park City Councilman and longtime activist who handily won the primary contest for Texas House District 136. Both Matt Stillwell and Matt Whittington, the Democrat and Libertarian candidates, have suggested raising the state gas tax, which is now coming to be known as the "Matt Tax." Dale has a solid fiscally conservative record on the Cedar Park Council.
The Williamson County Republican Party HQ-Cedar Park is located at Railyard Shopping, 601 Whitestone Blvd, Suite 218, Cedar Park, TX.
Hope to see you there!
Thursday, October 18, 2012
California Gas Prices: A Cautionary Tale for Texas
"All In Perspective" Column for the week of October 15. "All in Perspective" is published bi-weekly in the Hill Country News, Georgetown Advocate, and Jarrel Star-Ledger print editions.
It’s been a tough year for California. Stockton and numerous other Golden State cities have filed for bankruptcy. The state government, already struggling under $618 billion in debt, has created a budget that includes as much as $28 billion in deficit spending, and residents are being asked to approve a slew of tax increases for the coming year. Now, Californians are paying the highest gas prices in the nation.
Although fuel prices in California have been rising faster than the rest of the nation for some time, this month the state’s average price reached a record high of $4.67 per gallon. The immediate cause for the latest price surge was a temporarily disabled refinery in the southern part of the state, however, this is only the tip of the iceberg.
As even the left-leaning New York Times has noted, California’s stringent environmental policies and high gas taxes are underlying causes of this latest crisis. The state’s tough emission standards effectively eliminate use of gas blends from other states, and therefore California must rely heavily on in-state refineries. Additional regulations have reduced the number of refineries by 20% since 1985. To make matters worse, California touts the second-highest gas tax in the nation.
These policies have drastically reduced fuel supplies while demand has continued to climb, a dynamic that ultimately leads to higher prices. Higher fuel costs mostly impact the middle class and poor, and, as in the case of ethanol mandates, actually contribute to higher pollution rates while driving up food costs too.
While Senator Diane Feinstein has been quick blame energy producers for the crisis, it’s no secret that the goal of the Democrat’s radical environmental policy is higher prices. Barack Obama stated in 2008 that he actually wanted to “boost” the price of gasoline to European levels, and since the price per gallon has more than doubled since 2009, I guess this is one of the few campaign promises the President did keep.
Although certainly feeling the effects of the Obama economy, Texas has fared better than the rest of the nation. Not only has the state economy grown during the recession, gas prices have remained lower than the national average. ($3.53 per gallon as of October 12.) Taxes on gas are relatively low, and the state has much more reasonable environmental policies. Common-sense environmental regulation has kept gas prices manageable and has improved air quality. In fact, in the last decade, Texas reduced NOx and ozone levels at more than twice the national average.
Unfortunately, there are those who want to impose California-style energy and tax policies on Texas. Locally, Democrat candidate for the legislature Matt Stillwell has suggested raising state gas taxes. He has complained that state tax revenues are not enough to maintain and construct roads, but does not mention, that only half of the state’s fuel taxes are used for highway construction and maintenance, while the rest is diverted to other uses, some of which have little to do with transportation.
Despite Texas’ environmental successes, Democrats in the state want much more stringent, California-style environmental restrictions. The aforementioned Mr. Stillwell even questioned if Texas should impose further regulations on the proven technology of fracking for domestic oil exploration, even though the United States Geological Survey, the EPA, and the University of Texas have all concluded that there is no evidence that fracking causes groundwater contamination. (Or earthquakes, tornadoes, or hurricanes, for that matter.) Stillwell also rejects local and state conservation efforts, and desires federal intervention in Williamson County on behalf of salamanders.
Clearly Texas has been doing something right; we are consistently ranked one of the top states for business, and the Lone Star State created about 37% of all new American jobs last year. At the same time, that notorious Texas pride has led to sound conservationist policies that strive to preserve the state’s natural beauty and resources. The key factor has been a balanced approach to policy. The last thing Texans need is to become more like California. Seriously, don’t mess with Texas.
It’s been a tough year for California. Stockton and numerous other Golden State cities have filed for bankruptcy. The state government, already struggling under $618 billion in debt, has created a budget that includes as much as $28 billion in deficit spending, and residents are being asked to approve a slew of tax increases for the coming year. Now, Californians are paying the highest gas prices in the nation.
Although fuel prices in California have been rising faster than the rest of the nation for some time, this month the state’s average price reached a record high of $4.67 per gallon. The immediate cause for the latest price surge was a temporarily disabled refinery in the southern part of the state, however, this is only the tip of the iceberg.
As even the left-leaning New York Times has noted, California’s stringent environmental policies and high gas taxes are underlying causes of this latest crisis. The state’s tough emission standards effectively eliminate use of gas blends from other states, and therefore California must rely heavily on in-state refineries. Additional regulations have reduced the number of refineries by 20% since 1985. To make matters worse, California touts the second-highest gas tax in the nation.
These policies have drastically reduced fuel supplies while demand has continued to climb, a dynamic that ultimately leads to higher prices. Higher fuel costs mostly impact the middle class and poor, and, as in the case of ethanol mandates, actually contribute to higher pollution rates while driving up food costs too.
While Senator Diane Feinstein has been quick blame energy producers for the crisis, it’s no secret that the goal of the Democrat’s radical environmental policy is higher prices. Barack Obama stated in 2008 that he actually wanted to “boost” the price of gasoline to European levels, and since the price per gallon has more than doubled since 2009, I guess this is one of the few campaign promises the President did keep.
Although certainly feeling the effects of the Obama economy, Texas has fared better than the rest of the nation. Not only has the state economy grown during the recession, gas prices have remained lower than the national average. ($3.53 per gallon as of October 12.) Taxes on gas are relatively low, and the state has much more reasonable environmental policies. Common-sense environmental regulation has kept gas prices manageable and has improved air quality. In fact, in the last decade, Texas reduced NOx and ozone levels at more than twice the national average.
Unfortunately, there are those who want to impose California-style energy and tax policies on Texas. Locally, Democrat candidate for the legislature Matt Stillwell has suggested raising state gas taxes. He has complained that state tax revenues are not enough to maintain and construct roads, but does not mention, that only half of the state’s fuel taxes are used for highway construction and maintenance, while the rest is diverted to other uses, some of which have little to do with transportation.
Despite Texas’ environmental successes, Democrats in the state want much more stringent, California-style environmental restrictions. The aforementioned Mr. Stillwell even questioned if Texas should impose further regulations on the proven technology of fracking for domestic oil exploration, even though the United States Geological Survey, the EPA, and the University of Texas have all concluded that there is no evidence that fracking causes groundwater contamination. (Or earthquakes, tornadoes, or hurricanes, for that matter.) Stillwell also rejects local and state conservation efforts, and desires federal intervention in Williamson County on behalf of salamanders.
Clearly Texas has been doing something right; we are consistently ranked one of the top states for business, and the Lone Star State created about 37% of all new American jobs last year. At the same time, that notorious Texas pride has led to sound conservationist policies that strive to preserve the state’s natural beauty and resources. The key factor has been a balanced approach to policy. The last thing Texans need is to become more like California. Seriously, don’t mess with Texas.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Maldonado Holds Sparsely Attended Transportation 'Tax Hike' Forum, But No-Shows for Economic Forum
On Monday,Representative Diana Maldonado held a transportation forum with Representative Joe Pickett (D-El Paso), Chair of the Texas House Transportation Committee, and David Lewis, a Texas A&M professor.
Maldonado's guests repeatedly made the case for 'indexing' the gas tax, currently at $.20 per gallon, and bewailed the fact that more fuel-efficient vehicles mean less income for government. He made the usual comparisons of the amount of increase to a "latte " each month (thankfully it wasn't Happy Meals this time,) and lightly ridiculed politicians who made pledges to not raise taxes. While whining about the fact that vehicle registration fees decline as a vehicle ages, Representative Pickett said the system was "stupid," and complained that no-one had thanked him for the fee decrease on older cars.
No, seriously, he really said that.
Representative Maldonado did not say much at all. During the brief question and answer period, she attempted to answer a few questions, but Representative Pickett quickly jumped in to save the day.
The most articulate woman present turned out to be Williamson County Commissioner Lisa Birkman, who asked very knowledgeable questions about road construction funding for the county. Pickett tried to brush her off with his condescending comments about how "people just don't understand," and "you've got to know the terminology and acronyms," but finally had to concede that she was a 'smart person.' Commissioner Birkman demonstrated that she knew a lot more than the 'terminology,' and clearly understands how roads are funded, including the fact that the county is funding construction and maintenance of state highways to the tune of $300 million.
The Democrat's tax hike message didn't get much attention; there were only 20 people in the audience including Maldonado's staff and a few reporters. Maldonado and local Democrats have been trying very hard to make transportation a campaign issue, and although apparently unable to help Williamson County with the burden of state highway costs, she is still claiming residents should vote for her so that she can do something about road congestion. Apparently, the only plan is to increase gas taxes and registration fees.
As poll after poll indicates, voters are concerned about Obamacare, jobs, and the economy. Transportation is pretty far down the list. Representative Maldonado should be paying attention to the economic and jobs crisis, but since she was a no-show today for a candidate forum with Republican Larry Gonzales sponsored by Texas Prosperity Project regarding the Texas economy and job creation, she just really, really doesn't seem interested.
Maldonado's guests repeatedly made the case for 'indexing' the gas tax, currently at $.20 per gallon, and bewailed the fact that more fuel-efficient vehicles mean less income for government. He made the usual comparisons of the amount of increase to a "latte " each month (thankfully it wasn't Happy Meals this time,) and lightly ridiculed politicians who made pledges to not raise taxes. While whining about the fact that vehicle registration fees decline as a vehicle ages, Representative Pickett said the system was "stupid," and complained that no-one had thanked him for the fee decrease on older cars.
No, seriously, he really said that.
Representative Maldonado did not say much at all. During the brief question and answer period, she attempted to answer a few questions, but Representative Pickett quickly jumped in to save the day.
The most articulate woman present turned out to be Williamson County Commissioner Lisa Birkman, who asked very knowledgeable questions about road construction funding for the county. Pickett tried to brush her off with his condescending comments about how "people just don't understand," and "you've got to know the terminology and acronyms," but finally had to concede that she was a 'smart person.' Commissioner Birkman demonstrated that she knew a lot more than the 'terminology,' and clearly understands how roads are funded, including the fact that the county is funding construction and maintenance of state highways to the tune of $300 million.
The Democrat's tax hike message didn't get much attention; there were only 20 people in the audience including Maldonado's staff and a few reporters. Maldonado and local Democrats have been trying very hard to make transportation a campaign issue, and although apparently unable to help Williamson County with the burden of state highway costs, she is still claiming residents should vote for her so that she can do something about road congestion. Apparently, the only plan is to increase gas taxes and registration fees.
As poll after poll indicates, voters are concerned about Obamacare, jobs, and the economy. Transportation is pretty far down the list. Representative Maldonado should be paying attention to the economic and jobs crisis, but since she was a no-show today for a candidate forum with Republican Larry Gonzales sponsored by Texas Prosperity Project regarding the Texas economy and job creation, she just really, really doesn't seem interested.
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