Gilded Highways

ARTICLE IN NEWSWEEK JUST THIS LAST WEEK:
Transportation secretary proposes new funding plan
Transportation secretary proposes new approach for funding, maintaining interstate highways

ONE COMMENT GIVEN:
Not one mention of re-thinking the transportation problem at all. More talk about more highways (read more places to drive cars to use gas to line the pockets of the oil moguls). No talk about interstate passenger rail systems, intrastate or intra-city rail systems. Aside from the fact that we needed them years ago (we had them, but oil and auto interests pushed the individual transportation system, letting mass transit fall into ruin), they will help alleviate traffic congestion and pollution (thus helping the environment on a global scale) rails, trolley, subway and mass transit systems will not line the pockets of the oil interests (and the Bush administration's). So here is the Bush administration, saying that we as a population don't drive enough, we need to build more roads to get you to drive more.

Exxon reports record profits for Q2 - earned at a rate of $1500 per second. The general perception is that the Bush administration mat not have started it, but they sure are keeping it going, and are doing nothing responsible to stop it.

What happens when there is not oil left? The roads fall into disrepair becaus they can't use gas tax money to fix or build them.. Then, they are scrambling to figure out where to get the money to build mass transit that should have been started and already in place. Mass trasnti isn't socialist, its responsible.

Waaah. Waaah. Let's all blame Bush. Well, Bush wasn't around when the (presumably liberal) San Francisco Bay Area counties pulled a NIMBY and didn't allow BART to pass through various Silicon Valley counties. Before you blame "the government" for you mass transit (and other) troubles, look at your local NIMBY government.

When is this country going to take a serious look at a high-speed monorail system, on the front side would be a definite boost to economy while being constructed, and if properly utilized will get us on the road towards energy independence, no it will not entirely replace cars, trucks or airplanes, but will surely make a dent. We have railroads you say ?????? That is 19th century technology and is for moving freight, quite efficiently I might add, we need something better than Amtrak for moving people quickly, safely and comfortably that is highly efficient, and the possibilities for additional light freight utilization would also be a bonus.

cool no resonsibility on my part the government made me do it

I guess I would like to add that it would be nice if we had the opportunity to edit our own comments, since I see two typos in my comment below!

The US tax code is meant to tax a company's (whether corporation or sole proprietorship) profit, not its revenue. DANIEL GROSS's arguement that a business's ability to write off its costs, in the case of a vehicle, is a subsidy. Who is to say what type of vehicle is a work vehicle, such as a truck or van, and which is a non-work type vehicle, like an SUV? And furthermore, why are only vehicle costs considered subsidies, when a company can "write off" all other costs, since the tax code seeks only to tax its net income?

If the IRS and Congress decided that it was from now one going to tax revenues, and that all company costs were to be considered ineligible for write-offs, you could easily see situations where high-margin businesses were being "subsidized" at the expense of low margin businesses. A high margin business, such as a real estate company, has few costs, whereas a low margin business, such as a super market, has many. Each may make the same profit, but the real estate company will be able to pay its tax bill much more easily, since it's revenue is much lower.

The train system in US is like in third world. I experienced train in Japan (Tokyo-Osaka), and in France and Germany, their train system is so fast and smooth (probably 3 times faster than Amtrak). Also you barely feel the movement. With Amtrak, you feel like youre travelling in Philippines or Thailand. The whole car shakes all the time. Not to mention its moving at a glacial speed (and they call it, Acella EXPRESS).

We should all be funding expanded public transport and high speed trains, etc.

Petroleum (gas) will be depleting faster and faster in about a decade and we'll all be stuck with cars, buses and trucks (OH, and airplanes) to get around. They all require gas/petroleum-based fuel.

We need to model ourselves more after Europe and stop deriding them for being backward. WE are the backward ones now.

What a inanely shallow article. It belongs on an opinion page because of its clearly obvious agenda. The entire discussion of tax breaks is a distraction. The fact is, USA is the most powerful, efficient, economic engine on the planet. Why? We have incredibly flexible, cheap, and efficient transportation. All those "subsidies" turn out to be a stunningly successful investment in the future (and future taxe revenue) of our country

Comment: The article conveniently leaves out a few numbers. According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, the U.S. used 174,930,000,000gals of gasoline last year. According to GasPriceWatch.com, the federal tax on each gallon is $0.184, and that equates to about $32,187,120,000.00 (thats $32 Billion+) we pay for these "subsidized" roads. This does NOT include state and local taxes. The article also does NOT include the taxes paid via property taxes and SPLOST (Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax) that are then used to create, upgrade, and maintain the roads in cities and counties. I suspect I'm paying more in road taxes than I ever see in "subsidized" road support every year. At least take an hour to write something a little more balanced than this, please.
++++++++++++
...you left out the tolls, which are quite substantial if you live in Mass anywhere besides Boston.

the "tax credits for hybrids" are overstated. The govt. only gives a credit for the first 60,000 of a model sold, which has already been far surpassed by the most popular models of hybrids. I bough a Prius last year and got nothing for a tax credit. It seems to me that the government is doing more to encourage the sale of gasoline than driving itself. also self-employed individuals such as myself should get some rebates, between fed taxes, Mass state tax, and self employment tax I pay close to 50% of my income in taxes. On top of this I pay 5% sales tax on everything I buy, a "gas tax" every time I fill up, excise tax on my car, tolls when I drive on the highway, and now I am being forced to buy health insurance along with auto insurance by the state of Massachusetts!!

We will always need money to be spent on roads no matter how much mass transit there is. There is no city in Europe or anywhere else that has elimintated the need for roads through mass transit. Most mass transit attempts have been unprofitable, Amtrak being a great example. The seventy five billion spent on roads is a necessary expense to keep our nation running and there is no possibility that more mass transit would create a significant decrease in spending.

You don't do research very well. But I suppose all you needed to do was just enough to make the story sound good.
Depreciation of business assets are covered under Code Section 167. Section 179 is the accelerated expensing that is optional and instead of regular depreciation.
A self-employed peson takes deductions against their self-employment income, and as such, those expenses not only reduce regular income tax, but self-employment tax. In your example, the total tax savings for both the income tax AND the self employment tax would be 48.3% or about $1400.
Don't be in such a rush to get a story out that misrepresents the facts.

Author is a typical liberal. All for the "market" i.e. toll roads etc. to jack up the cost of driving forcing people off the land into the cities onto mass transit where big brother can keep an eye on everyone more easily.

This gentleman should calculate how much the drivers of New York subsidize mass transit with tunnel and bridge tolls that go to mass transit. And just because the government builds roads that does not mean they are free. They are financed by highway and gasoline taxes as well as the income taxes of drivers.
It's the mass transit rider that pays only a fraction of the cost of the trip because of government subsidies.

The irony of this is so strong that you could smelter it into steel. The former conservative party is the party of waste beyond the imagination of the former party of waste and over taxation. The Reagan family checkbook example of fiscal conservatism is dead. The party of fiscal conservatism now fosters the idea of borrowing and spending far beyond our means all the while cutting the taxes which could at least fund the profligacy. The former party of conservatism writes hot checks which cannot be repaid until the 22nd century while running on a continuing ticket of fiscal conservatism al the while accusing the former party of fiscal waste and causing us to go broke with their plan of at least taxing enough to balance the budget. Are we mad? Blind? So stupid that they can stay in power and lead us into total and irrecoverable ruin? Tune in to find out in November. If the wrong ones win, we will throw a big champagne party while the last lifeboat sinks into the ocean of debt and then declare bankruptcy against the claim of the liquor store for the champagne that we bought on credit to celebrate our demise.