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IndicationOver OP t1_j1wlk7z wrote

Reply to comment by deathwalker05 in BEST OF 2022: Did Ned Lamont offer the largest tax cut in Connecticut history? By one standard, yes. by IndicationOver

So what would be a better solution? More taxes?

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deathwalker05 t1_j1wp0rd wrote

Keep taxes the same level until we're fully out of the hole. No sense to put a hole in the bucket when you're bailing out the ship.

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JHolm915 t1_j1xl6bk wrote

Or they lower the tax rate, work to improve the economy with lower costs across the board, also make it more business friendly and then more people move here and businesses start up or move here and with the added tax revenue from the additional people and business it all evens out at the lower rates.

If they keep the tax rates plus cost of living and doing business high, more businesses and people leave and then they need even higher taxes to just get by and it continues the cycle. Don't forget starting January all commercial trucks registered in CT are getting hit with a per mile tax and that is going to have some serious repercussions as well as what we already have pushing businesses away.

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[deleted] t1_j1zu2we wrote

Know what? I kinda like that tax on trucks.

Avoids tolls, gets these trucks off our roads and onto I-90/87/alternate routes - pays to fix up our roads. Trucks that need to be here will still be here.

It's a great idea IMO. We have WAY too much commercial traffic on our roads and it's apparently doing very little to nothing for us.

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JHolm915 t1_j201b4t wrote

You realize it only taxes local trucks that are registered in the state? Does absolutely nothing to tax the majority of transit coming through. It will only push any business with trucks on the road out of the state and the out of state vehicles get a free pass. How do you think that's a good idea? It will be minimal income after the overhead of keeping track and processing it which will be a nightmare of bureaucracy and waste in itself since the DMV is absolute shit.

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[deleted] t1_j201z27 wrote

Ugh. I spoke too soon. Fuck that tax on trucks.

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JHolm915 t1_j204ql6 wrote

If you weren't aware either since you mentioned tolls. EZ-Pass is a PRIVATE and For-Profit business that uses government contracts to collect tolls then negotiates largely inflated administrative costs to profit hundreds of millions of dollars a year while paying the states a small fraction back. Tolls are just a money grab by investors using government mandated laws to profit with no competition and lobbyists to ensure they stay in place.

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[deleted] t1_j2060or wrote

Eh, I don't think the admin costs are as inflated as you think they are.

Thinking of the technical components and the logistics of the entire system - there are significant costs involved. This is me just looking over what they have in place from a technology perspective + considering everything that would need to go into implementing the solution they have in place.

( ^ designing things like this + planning the resources is part of my job. I've got a hunch that their profit is <=5%.)

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JHolm915 t1_j20ah05 wrote

You missed the point though, a good portion goes back into EZPass and not to the states and a portion goes to profit so the benefit of them is negligible and on top of that most states that have put them in have also put in income tax deductions for tolls because of how much of a burden they have become. Basically just bureaucratic waste because a lot of the states still have shit roads and rely heavily on federal grants for what little work they do.

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