Jackson Jambalaya

My question on gas tax is: In I believe 1985 five cents per gallon was added to the gas tax. This was to expand the 4 lane corridors across southern & northern Mississippi. After 15 years this tax was to be removed (yea, like they thought we'd believe that lie and that was going to happen ).

Well, the expansions were completed, but there was no repeal on the 5 cents tax. Where is all that money that should have accrued over the last 30+ years?

Could it be that when MDOT wanted a new building and DFA told them no, so they tore the old building at Northwest & Woodrow Wilson down to the slab, then "REFURBISHED" the old building with a new one is where the dollars went?

Ain't nothin' wrong with these roads in Misiippi. just last week I took the whole famly on back of the John Deer twelve miles to the Piggly Wiggly and we ain't broke down once! Just another libral plot to take my money and give it to welfare cheats in Jackson! No mo taxes!

It’s simple math. We are consuming far less gas today than 20 years ago and road maintenance costs have gone up significantly

Yes, mileage has improved, but the cost of gasoline has risen, so it's a push.

Maybe the thieves in the capitol have gotten better at their craft.

Stupid and corrupt politicians will keep Mississippi last in every meaningful metric there is.

Rough roads aint all bad. Ever since they cut way back on the salt on tater chips we just plan ahead! We head out the Piggly Wiggly to the truck and then we commence to open all the bags of tater chips right there in the parking lot. NO EATIN YET AS THEY AINT DONE YET!

Jest put some of that there orgainic salt in each bag and then when you is hittin the potholes you is mixin the chips and salt! Jest be sure not to loose control and end up in the ditch. Specially since they kinda soft lately what with all the rain.

Cynical Sam: Unless I am mistaken, the rise of gas prices is irrelevant to state revenues. The gas tax is so much per mile; no indexing. No matter how many gallons are sold, or whatever the price per gallon, the state receives the same amount per gallon.

When does it end. Gas tax, sales tax, high car tag tax, federal tax, state tax, permit fees, hunting and fishing fees, property tax, franchise tax, self employment tax and on and on.

Now if you want to be fair in this article, tell us what the car and other taxes are? For example, Texas has higher gas taxes but much lower car tags. Florida has higher fuel tax but no state tax.

Cynical Sam, incorrect. It’s not a push as far as tax collections for road maintenance. You pay by the gallon, not as a percentage of spend. So we are collecting less today while costs have gone up.

So...everyone else is raising taxes...Crawford wants to get in line.
Sorta, if, everyone jumps off the barn roof thing my mother used to mentio

Bill did not mention where the Mississippi household income ranks. Maybe if Mississippi ranks #16 in HH income they should rank #16 in gas tax (or maybe all taxes?) Rural state means more roads and citizens have a longer commute.

Bill leaves a lot of ground uncovered. Maybe in the future Bill should just give his readers his opinion on the solution rather than incomplete statistics.

Are you people suggesting there are fewer automobiles, riding mowers, outboard motors, weed eaters, portable generators (in sheds and at tailgates), trucks, leaf blowers, tillers and chain saws today than there were in 1999?

When you got a road with holes then start calling it a frontage road to Tater's and pay for it with economic development money!


Errybody happy then and it gits-r-dun!

Are you people suggesting there are fewer automobiles, riding mowers, outboard motors, weed eaters, portable generators (in sheds and at tailgates), trucks, leaf blowers, tillers and chain saws today than there were in 1999?

Octane Ollie: are you suggesting that riding mowers, outboard motors, weed eaters, portable generators, leave blowers, tillers and chain saws are causing damage to our roads and bridges? You do realize you pay the same tax for gasoline for all these machines as you do when you fill up the F150?

No, 11:51 - I'm suggestion they burn gasoline. Someone suggested we're burning less gasoline now than 20 years ago. That's bogus. Are you suggesting if we are buying twice as many gallons of gas, we're not collecting a dime more in taxes than if we were purchasing the number of gallons? Gawd! I hope you went to bed after that post.

The Republicans sure didn’t mind hitting hybrid owners for $75 more per year, without any regard to how much they actually drive or how much gas they actually use. I’m quite certain a Z71 driving 24k miles per year is doing far more damage than a Prius going less than 1k/month. Would have made more sense for tags to increase based on mileage, instead of some arbitrary amount. But I guess that’s “conservative” in Mississippi.

Some of the opposition to increasing the fuel tax might go away if MDOT will implement the changes needed to take advantage of the savings found in the Auditor's report, meager as they may be. It's the thought that counts, and as long as MDOT is knowingly wasting tax dollars they'll not get my support for an increase.

Electric car owners pay the state $150 per year. Not sure why they get so screwed on the deal except for the GOP trying to punish people who care about the environment. I would say make everyone pay $150 for every car, $75 for motorcycles, $300 for every truck, $600 for the heavy duty work trucks, and $1200 for semi trucks.

You might want to look into the taxes on over the road semis tagged in Mississippi 12:23. It's been a while since I was concerned with the taxes but it was high then and likely higher now.

Semi trucks don't fill up at the corner station, typically. And you'll notice the IFTA and other required tax labels on the tractors.