They're Here.....

Now the word goes out that in order to support our highway and bridge infrastructure, we need a 40 cent PER GALLON surcharge that will be administered by the government. Do you have any idea how much in taxes we are currently paying?

"The Federal Tax of 18.4 cents per gallon is collected in all states in addition to any state or local taxes on gasoline sales.

Gasoline taxes are levied in various ways in different states. Some states, such as Louisiana, levy a flat rate per gallon. Others charge a tax similar to a sales tax in that it applies to the monetary amount of the gasoline sold. Other states allow local communities to levy gasoline taxes in addition to any state taxes that might be levied."-

Source: American Petroleum Institute 1/13/05

On top of that, we pay state taxes to the tune of approximately 20 cents per gallon. And you can add to that sales taxes which are 8.25% of the total sale in our area. Now I ask you, where IS that money going? And how much in total taxes are we talking about? The first column is oil company profits in BILLIONS. The second column is FEDERAL taxes and the third column is STATE taxes. The last column below is TOTAL TAXES, in BILLIONS. And that is just for the years from 1977 through 2004. Where has the money gone? And you can't just blame President Bush because there have been LOTS of hand in the till.

Total

$643.0

$533.0

$810.1

$1,343.1

State and Federal governments profit from this at the expense of taxpayers. The amount of revenues that are returned to states is not equal to the amount sent to Washington D.C. So where is the money going? Well, when you hear different candidates discuss their many "ideas" and when you have candidates who embrace the concept of de facto socialism by supporting programs that amount to a "nanny state" environment, you will find that money paid into such things as social security, fuel taxes, income taxes and the like, become nothing more than a piggy bank to fund the over 10,000 earmarks that were in the most recent budget. That is TEN THOUSAND special programs, which various Congressional reps have tried to sneak into the program. And then they have the unmitigated gall to ASK FOR MORE? Folks, you had better be paying attention. They ain't no such thing as a free lunch. You can ask for "free" healthcare and "free" subsidy of loans to unqualified buyers. You can punish banks for failing to fund bad loans and then you can swoop in and give BofA a sweetheart deal to restructure the debt, but it doesn't take away from that one bottom line fact-

THE MONEY HAS TO COME FROM SOMEWHERE.

And where that money for programs is coming from is straight from your pocket.

So go ahead, support all those lofty programs and feel good about yourself. Self-esteem is a good thing. But it won't pay the bills. It won't build the roads. It won't feed your kids. It's going to be hard to explain to Junior that he can't go to UT because there are too many people from other nations in front of him. It will be difficult to explain to little Susie that there won't be any more extras in life because all the money will be gone. The spiral of inflation will accelerate and what passes for a Middle Class lifestyle will become a tenuous attempt to avoid poverty. And the way things are shaping up, that is EXACTLY what the liberals in America plan to do.

More information is here:

http://www.senate.state.tx.us/SRC/pdf/trans.
pdf

PS. Texans, you may want to note that although we are still a "producer state" to the extent that environmental groups will let us drill, we are only getting 77 cents on the dollar back in the way of highway funding programs. Anyone who has driven on I35 or I75 in the past five years can testify to the fact that our highways are crowded and getting moreso. Add to that the recent announcement that DART is trying to get away with yet another building delay-Carrollton's corridor was delayed three times-that makes it pretty clear that we don't matter at all to some people in Washington. Look at the map and see who does matter and think about how their politics shape up.

Map Here.