Joni Pope wrote on March 31, 2008 06:39 AM: Pay now or pay later?
This letter is in response to the March 17 article to study more taxes for road upgrades to relieve congestion and maintain our infrastructure. Our roads and highways are what keep our state moving. They are the life blood to our economy. As the article stated, the threat of a crumbling infrastructure is looming. Our leaders need to take the appropriate steps to ensure that gridlock and congestion do not kill our ability to move goods and provide services. Paying an extra nickel a gallon in gas tax to help cure a cold is worth it, instead of paying for a trip to the emergency room later.

city wrote on March 17, 2008 05:16 PM: Maybe we should have been spending our money on infrastructure instead of a pointless war in the mideast? Maybe we should have a president who has the interest of the American people in mind and not his war profiteering buddies? Maybe the American people will get wise enough to pull their head out of the sand and realize whats important.

johnny rocco wrote on March 17, 2008 11:44 AM: i'm johnny rocco and i want more,more tax money..yeah.

bob wrote on March 17, 2008 10:49 AM: Our city is going to be in BIG trouble when it hits 3 million if we don't start planning better infrastructure NOW! Look at cities like San Diego and imagine what it would be like without the network of freeways and public transportation they have. It would be a disaster. Bigger cities sometimes need higher taxes in order to improve the quality of life.

Rasputin wrote on March 17, 2008 10:29 AM: CommonSense has hit quite a few nails on the head. The egregious waste of government towards any contract for infrastructure almost ensures the waste of taxpayer funds.

Also - "Skancke, who helped craft the report, said a typical driver spends $330 annually fixing car damage from bad roads." I would *LOVE* to see where he pulled this fantastical monetary amount from. I, personally, have never paid anywhere NEAR that amount for yearly repairs due to road conditions; neither has my wife, my neighbors, or any of my friends.

"He also said reducing congestion saves people time, another valuable commodity, and is a cost-effective way to reduce pollution from idling traffic." Well, Mr. Skancke, we can file that under the ever-bigger "DUH" file. But to suggest that this town has anything close to real big-town congestion (see New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, etc) is merely a disingenuous attempt to pluck money out of our worry-wallet.

To attempt, once again, to raise the gas taxes for this is an outrage. David hit the bullseye with his statement below regarding the auto registration fees, which are SUPPOSED to be going to infrastructure. Wonder which branch of the Las Vegas government machine is siphoning off *those* funds, instead of applying them where they're supposed to go?

Jon H. wrote on March 17, 2008 09:57 AM: ths wrote: “I am not denying that there is a lot of wasted tax dollars, but 5cents a gallon and 5 miles per gallon better economy due to not sitting in traffic makes economic sense to me.”

I wish it could be true, but alas are we are talking about 5 additional cents to an existing tax. Is it not true that perhaps we are already looking at 10 – 15 cents per gallon of wasted tax dollars? Why can’t our government eliminate half of that waste, and end up with plenty of tax dollars available to do the tasks at hand. Why does it always need to be more?

On the other hand, as cars become more fuel efficient, the number of miles driven per collected tax dollar is less.

But, then again, just because the population of the state has increased by a factor of, lets say ten, over the past thirty years, US-95, is as it always has been, two lanes. So, if we looked at every mile of road that exists in the state from the point of view of taxes available per mile of road-lanes in Nevada I would have to say that Nevada is flush with money compared to thirty years ago.

Comments?

David wrote on March 17, 2008 09:37 AM: What about the huge fees tacked on our auto registration? I thought that was for roads and infrastructure. I guess that has been earmarked for more casino benefits like the race downtown and other expenditures that benefit and line the pockets of gaming corporations, so they in turn can line the pockets of our local politicians.

ths wrote on March 17, 2008 08:06 AM: I am not denying that there is a lot of wasted tax dollars, but 5cents a gallon and 5 miles per gallon better economy due to not sitting in traffic makes economic sense to me.

Perhaps we should also of voted for an economic package that would of put people to work building and repairing roads instead of a one time tax return that people are going to use to pay down their debt instead of giving the economy a booster shot.

Jobs stimulate the economy, not tax returns to people that are struggling to find and keep a job.

Dennis #1 wrote on March 17, 2008 08:02 AM: After reading the article about the inspections in Clark County and then reading this article on roads and cries for more taxes, it made me wonder.

If the inspectors can't clean up 10 year old problems, can either Clark or Washoe Counties, or more importantly NDOT have cleaned up their obscenely wasteful ways in the last 10 years?

Hey Guv - how about an audit of NDOT?

He Reid (and RTC)- how about an audit of CC Roads wasteful spending?

Hey Washoe (and RTC) - how about your own audit of wasteful spending?

the dodger wrote on March 17, 2008 07:04 AM: Yup common sense I'm with you on this one. Every time something comes up it is always a question of 'we need more money/taxes.' Maybe the public would have a different opinion if the governments (at all levels)weren't so wasteful and inefficient and they actually could see a benefit from their tax dollars. I've been saying for 20 years if a person wanted to start a business the best thing to do would be to have the government as a client. Yeah, the government official will always take care of their needs first before allocating the funds to the intended purpose. Tax us more for road improvements and one wya or the other some of that money will end out in their pockets.

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