1 minute ago, JohnSnowsHair said:

And yet if I drive from 611 to Valley Forge I'm still in stop and go traffic for the bulk of the time. But at least the potholes are covered up quickly.

I'd like to see some kind of expansion to the number of lanes there. Or maybe do something I've seen elsewhere where there's a lane in the middle that switches from eastbound to westbound depending on traffic - so you don't need to add 1-2 lanes on each side, just one or two in the middle and adjust accordingly. that's probably a bit much, but I end up taking back roads half the time because of congestion - or just not going in to the office until after 9am.

Yeah.  They widened the whole stretch from Lansdale to Mid-County and are even expanding north of Lansdale.  Then there's a crap-ton going on past Morrisville towards NJ I believe.  It's been a year since I've been that way but that was another massive project.

13 minutes ago, JohnSnowsHair said:

And yet if I drive from 611 to Valley Forge I'm still in stop and go traffic for the bulk of the time. But at least the potholes are covered up quickly.

I'd like to see some kind of expansion to the number of lanes there. Or maybe do something I've seen elsewhere where there's a lane in the middle that switches from eastbound to westbound depending on traffic - so you don't need to add 1-2 lanes on each side, just one or two in the middle and adjust accordingly. that's probably a bit much, but I end up taking back roads half the time because of congestion - or just not going in to the office until after 9am.

they moved the traffic jams from 611 & 309 and put it on the TP. brilliant. 

8 minutes ago, rambo said:

Yeah.  They widened the whole stretch from Lansdale to Mid-County and are even expanding north of Lansdale.  Then there's a crap-ton going on past Morrisville towards NJ I believe.  It's been a year since I've been that way but that was another massive project.

its about as bad as the never ending construction on 95 at cottman ave. although you can actually see a big difference on the TP. 

Last I checked, the PA Turnpike Commission is basically a slush fund for the PA State Police.

3 minutes ago, EaglesRocker97 said:

Last I checked, the PA Turnpike Commission is basically a slush fund for the PA State Police.

it's a slush fund for the whole state I think. 

I know it's blasphemy, but PA state income taxes are pretty low. per capita, PA spends a little more than the median but is 31st per capita in taxes collected. 

it's not actually difficult to understand why PA roads and infrastructure is crap. the government is underfunded, and PSERS is compounding that. 

20 minutes ago, Gannan said:

The one nice thing about Covid. It's probably save me a few thousand in tolls at this point. 

Me too. Not tolls specifically since we only normally travel the turnpike every couple of months to visit family, but Covid has definitely saved us money from not traveling as much, not having our kids in camp last summer, no before/after school care, etc. 

9 minutes ago, EaglesRocker97 said:

Last I checked, the PA Turnpike Commission is basically a slush fund for the PA State Police.

They fund PennDot.  They are required to have a transfer payment of almost a half a billion annually.  That's why the tolls are so high.  It's not just funding the Turnpike.

6 minutes ago, rambo said:

They fund PennDot.

Yeah, and then a lot of those funds are diverted to PSP:

 

Quote

In addition to the turnpike paying PennDOT for public transit, about $700 million from PennDOT’s Motor License Fund is used to pay about a third of the Pennsylvania State Police budget.

Pa. looking to address transportation funding for PennDOT, Turnpike in next year's budget | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (post-gazette.com)

 

10 minutes ago, EaglesRocker97 said:

Yeah, and then a lot of those funds are diverted to PSP:

 

 

I thought the motor license fund consisted of the fuel tax and car taxes not TP funds.  Either way there's a lot of money being diverted to the PSP that should legally be going towards road maintenance/construction/bridge repair etc...

27 minutes ago, rambo said:

They fund PennDot.  They are required to have a transfer payment of almost a half a billion annually.  That's why the tolls are so high.  It's not just funding the Turnpike.

they also subsidize septa. 

 

thanks fast eddie. 

45 minutes ago, JohnSnowsHair said:

PSERS is compounding that. 

You can take my retirement from my cold, dead hands!

Actually, I guess that's how it works

Well, I did not see that coming!

 

Quote

Gov. Tom Wolf wants to phase out Pennsylvania's gasoline tax

HARRISBURG, Pa. —

Gov. Tom Wolf wants to phase out Pennsylvania's gasoline tax and appointed a commission to figure out alternative ways to fund the state's transportation network.

Wolf announced Friday that he signed an executive order setting up the Transportation Revenue Options Commission, which will be tasked with finding reliable and sustainable revenue for the short-term and the long-term.

The commission of lawmakers, transportation industry representatives, transportation planners, government officials and others will deliver recommendations by Aug. 1, Wolf said.

The governor said the state is relying too much on outdated, unreliable funding methods.

The gas tax that Wolf calls "burdensome" isn’t keeping pace with transportation and safety needs as vehicles become more fuel-efficient and more motorists buy electric vehicles, state officials say.

The current gas tax in Pennsylvania is about 58 cents per gallon. According to a 2020 analysis by the Tax Foundation, the commonwealth had the second highest state tax in the country. Also, the 58 cents per gallon does not include the federal tax, which is about 18 cents per gallon.

PennDOT said it has $9.3 billion in unmet needs, and that amount is expected to grow to $14.5 billion by 2030.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wgal.com/amp/article/gov-tom-wolf-wants-to-phase-out-pennsylvanias-gas-tax/35824718

 

1 hour ago, EaglesRocker97 said:

Well, I did not see that coming!

 

 

Get ready for jacked registration and inspection fees!

On 3/8/2021 at 10:27 AM, EaglesRocker97 said:

You can take my retirement from my cold, dead hands!

Actually, I guess that's how it works

Burden on the taxpayers...shocker

2 minutes ago, ToastJenkins said:

Burden on the taxpayers...shocker

 

Wait until you hear who pays my salary...

33 minutes ago, rambo said:

Get ready for jacked registration and inspection fees!

More like we are going to get raped on income taxes. Wolf wants to pass the largest income tax hike in the history of the state. He knows the gas tax is a loser since more and more people will be working from home even after covid is gone. 

Here’s a thought. Eliminate funds from fees going to other things. IE motor registration fees only go toward costs of motor registrations. Turnpike tolls only go towards turnpike. Etc. 

Give county sheriffs police powers so they can do police work like every other state so PSP isn’t burdened.

Any types of sales tax get added to the general fund and aren’t earmarked towards specific things. 

On 2/24/2021 at 12:25 PM, JohnSnowsHair said:

for it to be a Ponzi scheme, there has to be an element of fraud. SS is transparent about how it operates.

people at the "top" of the pyramid also have to be receiving funds continuously from "new investors", but with SS they don't because they die. 

the only element of being a Ponzi scheme that fits is that it's transferring payments from current contributors to past contributors. but it's missing the critical elements of fraud, coupled with the limited pool of SS recipients (as people die) make theses Ponzi scheme comparisons off the mark to me.

whatever 🤷‍♂️

False.  The only reason fraud is needed in order to conduct a Ponzi scheme is because if the people operating it were transparent about how it works, no one would voluntarily sign up for it.    The government doesn’t need "fraud” to get people to opt in because it’s literally against the law to NOT be a part of it.  
And while we’re talking about it, the government actually is fraudulent in how they run SS.  For starters, they take revenue that’s supposed to be for SS and use it for other things.  When you pay into it, you are told you are paying into a "SS tax” when in reality you’re just paying into the general fund that they use for whatever they want.

Secondly, if you are a young person and use the government’s SS payment calculator, you will get an answer of how much money you will receive in retirement that is actually false as that money won’t be there as the system currently is constructed.

 

2 hours ago, EaglesRocker97 said:

 

Wait until you hear who pays my salary...

Ok ponzi

Just FYI:




  

https://www.governor.pa.gov/2021-plan/?fbclid=IwAR0anJNxWZ3eo7oFrcQS8HbdQ_aEZyuY2f8I4Qaps8nY3J4E4H5fsl-tM7s

3 hours ago, EaglesRocker97 said:

Just FYI:




  

https://www.governor.pa.gov/2021-plan/?fbclid=IwAR0anJNxWZ3eo7oFrcQS8HbdQ_aEZyuY2f8I4Qaps8nY3J4E4H5fsl-tM7s

Insanity. He plans on taxing the hell out of any family making over 84k a year because he considers that "wealthy". Wolf is out of touch. 

13 minutes ago, Gannan said:

Insanity. He plans on taxing the hell out of any family making over 84k a year because he considers that "wealthy". Wolf is out of touch. 

You're not wrong, however, median household revenue in PA is like 62k, so it would appear to be a winning position, politically speaking. Otherwise, I see nothing in here about a tax increase for those making over 84k, just a reduction for those making less. I do think households making 84k are by no means rich and should not be subject to higher income tax. Of course, you have to think "well, they're going to make it up somewhere else," and you'd be right. I think we would probably see a sales tax increase. Now, I like that PA has a relatively low sales tax, but I'm not going to really gripe over an extra 1 or 2%. I think going up to 7.5 % was a figure I heard thrown around awhile ago.

3 minutes ago, EaglesRocker97 said:

You're not wrong, however, median household revenue in PA is like 62k, so it would appear to be a winning position, politically speaking. Otherwise, I see nothing in here about a tax increase for those making over 84k, just a reduction for those making less. Now, of course, you have to think "well, they're going to make it up somewhere else," and you'd be right. I think we would probably see a sales tax increase. Now, I like that PA has a relatively low sales tax, but I'm not going to really gripe over an extra 1 or 2%. I think going up to 7.5 % was a figure I heard thrown around awhile ago.

That's the logic Wolf is using, but it's flawed. The median income for the state is skewed by Pennsyltucky which makes up a huge part of the state. Those of us who live in civilization like the Delaware valley and not "Skunk's Crotch, PA" have a far higher cost of living. Wolf is leaving out his plan for a massive tax hike for the rest of us. I had to dig for it. I posted it earlier in the thread iirc.

1 minute ago, Gannan said:

That's the logic Wolf is using, but it's flawed. The median income for the state is skewed by Pennsyltucky which makes up a huge part of the state. Those of us who live in civilization like the Delaware valley and not "Skunk's Crotch, PA" have a far higher cost of living. Wolf is leaving out his plan for a massive tax hike for the rest of us. I had to dig for it. I posted it earlier in the thread iirc.

Between this and bungling the vaccine rollout, Wolf seems like a real winner. It's like he exists so Gavin Newsom can have someone out there worse than him.

1 minute ago, vikas83 said:

Between this and bungling the vaccine rollout, Wolf seems like a real winner. It's like he exists so Gavin Newsom can have someone out there worse than him.

Wolf won because he was running against a guy who thought Trump wasn't crazy and racist enough. 

5 minutes ago, Gannan said:

That's the logic Wolf is using, but it's flawed. The median income for the state is skewed by Pennsyltucky which makes up a huge part of the state. Those of us who live in civilization like the Delaware valley and not "Skunk's Crotch, PA" have a far higher cost of living. Wolf is leaving out his plan for a massive tax hike for the rest of us. I had to dig for it. I posted it earlier in the thread iirc.

Right, and the "Skunk Crotch" folk aren't gonna vote blue even if the other side had a dictator whispering sweet dictator nothings into their ears. Oh, wait...