Jalopnik 
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Detroit, 12:45 AM
Mon Nov 30
13 posts in the last 24 hours
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02/19/09
Best legislation ever.
02/19/09
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02/19/09
It's your birthday?
Hot damn! Happy Birthday!
*and no, I am not going to ask how old you are
02/19/09
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02/19/09
Happy Birthday Heart Clicks all around!
02/19/09
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02/19/09
One of the benefits of internet birthdays is that you don't have to worry about cleaning anything up, before or after the party. Hangovers are still optional though.
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02/19/09
The former has, for many years, benefitted from a critical mass of banking, bio research, and educational institutions. But at some point, the first two of those are going to start packing up and moving to Charlotte or Raleigh/RTP (hate to pick on NC, but those two towns are the first to come to mind). Or even just to closer places, say NH or DE. And the state will suddenly wonder where the hell all the businesses went--because ultimately, business are made up of people and funded by people, so the nebulous idea of "increasing business taxes" eventually comes home to roost. A little OT, there, sorry.
02/19/09
Not really over-the-top at all.
I work for a small business as a contract administrator with NASA, and between CA and Federal taxes, the tax rate on our company is something like 45%.
And yet, our roads still suck, our education system is in the shitter, and we seem to perpetually suffer from too few law enforcement officers. It kind of makes you wonder where the hell all of this money is going.
02/19/09
02/19/09
It's true.
It's just getting too damn expensive to live out here. In many parts of the country, a yearly salary of $45k is enough to get a nice little apartment close to town and get a decent car to drive around, but in LA, 45k gets you a run-down shithole in east LA that you have to share with two roomates in order to afford, and you're lucky if you can find a cheap enough car to drive around that is less than ten years old.
Eventually, California will wind up like southern Florida: populated only by rich old cheesedicks.
02/19/09
Masshole and proud, dammit!
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02/19/09
Anyway, my point is that this is really nothing new for Massachusetts.
02/19/09
I just picked up a helluva deal from my sister-in-law, thanks to the Mass emissions law- '97 Cougar XR7, $100.
02/19/09
So what's your theme going to be? The Tax Man Cometh?
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02/19/09
No, I'm afraid the plan is still to convert the ol' F150 into "Kermit The Ford".
02/19/09
If 4.6, awesome car, nice price. If 3.8, crackpipe.
02/19/09
Buddy of mine had an '89 a few years back, and I thought it was a pretty decent car.
02/19/09
I don't like tax hikes, especially with our current economy, but if you're going to raise taxes at least be honest about it.
02/19/09
02/19/09
I fully agree that we, as consumers, should be making smarter choices and being better stewards of our planets resources. I don't agree with politicians putting tax hikes -- that are necessary because they mismanaged the current tax revenues -- in a green cloak to get them passed without being honest about what the true impact is.
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02/19/09
Just use it, its not doing any good in the ground.
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"Missionary style would pay less and you'd have a range, that kind of thing."
02/19/09
Some of us can't get any, at all.....:(
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02/19/09
and graverobber: 100% Shovel Ready!, sometimes i worry
02/19/09
Not that I have any 1st hand knowledge of such things.
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1) I actually support it anyway. We pay too little for gas in this country, IMO, and it might do us and indeed everyone around the world to make it a bit more of a commodity. Driving is viewed as a right, basically, not a privelege anymore.
2) A gas tax is a lot better than the state putting a black box in your car and moving to the same road tax/tolling system they have in London right now, which is the other option Gov. Patrick is debating. That is friggin' scary. Part of the appeal of having a car is some freedom to get away and with that in your car, you aint never gonna be alone.
Ultimately I don't they'll go the black box route becuase it will cost too much in infrastructure and bureaucracy to get it going and maintain. Then again, this IS Massachusetts, and stuff like that has never stopped them from doing idiotic things in the past.
God I want to get the hell out of this state sometimes...
02/19/09
What; you don't like that second part? You'd rather fund someone else's eccentricities? Fine! Be that way!
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02/19/09
Basically, if you don't drive a Camry with plastic 15" hubcaps you're breaking about 15 laws at any given time.
02/19/09
Until you cross the border into my state, then we pull your ass over.
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Forgive my ignorance...most states in this region, save for FL, have zero toll roads. I've only ever seen charges based on number of axles.
02/19/09
Because I think that the aim of this is to encourage consumers to purchase more fuel efficient cars. And while weight is a significant variable in determining fuel efficiency, light weight does not necessarily mean good fuel efficiency. For instance, none of us can argue that the F430 isn't a lightweight, and yet it gets worse mileage than a diesel Cherokee, which weighs far more.
Several months back, Jalopnik posted an article in which they argued that the best way to achieve the goal of encouraging consumer to by fuel efficient vehicles is to increase the gas tax, and as much as I hate the idea, I still believe that they are correct.
02/19/09
02/19/09
When this goes into place, I believe the amount you will be charged will be based on what the title, or the certificate of origin states the GVW is. This is tied into the VIN Number at the Motor Vehicle Registry. And, to my knowledge, it will also be tied into the Easy Pass Electronic system, if you want to use your electronic toll paying system.
02/19/09
A raised gas price would be the best option for achieving the goal at hand, but it would be a killer for people like me, whose roundtrip commute is 80+ miles per day.
02/19/09
Does anyone know if any studies have been done about the environmental impact of tolls? The Mass Pike isn't too bad (tolls at exits only, where you're slowing down anyway), but I couldn't believe when I went to Denver and Dallas recently and the newer highways had frequent tolls along open stretches of road. Didn't stopping every few miles to pay a piddling $0.75 strike any road designers as being stupid and wasteful?
02/19/09
02/19/09
I think you're missing the point. Some vehicles are heavy and get poor mileage because they need to be to accomplish a certain task. Towing a boat, carrying a large amount of cargo, transporting a large family. To tax this would be seen as either anti-business or anti-family. What they are really after is taxing vehicles that are heavy and get poor mileage for no good reason. Perhaps, if we're really lucky, the government will come up with an index where they can evaluate vehicles based on the mileage they get in proportion to what a more appropriate vehicle would get. Perhaps they can add tax percentage points if it meets certain criteria. The number of cylinders, engine placement, existence of a truck type bed on a car. They could start here:
[jalopnik.com]
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Which, considering that we theoretically live in a democracy in which the government is made for the people, of the people, doesn't say a whole about us, either.
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