Janesvillean, you have no idea how much those big rigs pay for licenses($1000+) and gas tax or you would temper your response of big business. The amount of road and gas tax paid is enormous compared to the average car.A fillup is usually around 200+ gallons at a time.However I agree those that use the roads should pay the costs. Wisconsin already has one of the higher gas taxes around.

I wish I could manage my personal budget like these MORON's....
Out of money, just dip all my neighbors pockets and grab some more...
This crap has got to stop..

....and since Walker took office, none of our taxes are going toward schools or education.

Uh duh that is what taxes are. A lot of people pay for things they don't use. If they choose to buy property in WI they know they will have to pay taxes, however not only do they get to drive on our roadways for free they do it like idoits. I will never thank them. I say take advantage of it. You don't think they aren't getting an investment off their properties? We are stupid for not trying to capitalize on it.

Hey if Obama can blame his predecessor for his short comings why can't Walker blame Doyle for his. In this case for raiding the transportation fund to pay off the department of public instruction.

gpackers...and they pay towards the schools but don't use them. We should thank them.

I am sure they do pay taxes on their properties but so do I with the possiblity that I may have to pay more to travel. We don't have toll roads. It is a way to make out of staters pay for the roads as well.

gbpacker1994: I would believe they are paying the same taxes as Wisconsinites for home ownership, plus they help the economy when they visit and purchase gas, food, entertainment, maybe even visit Lambeau field and watch the Packers! Then when they all leave what would you have? They will go to a state where they are welcome like business's do..!

Billions in road money has been robbed, stolen, and embezzled by politicians and now they want to re-rob the citizenry to replace it.

How about charging everyone who is out of state but owns a cabin, house, land, or condo in Wisconsin a user fee. Problem solved.

mouse..actually I don't spend money I don't have and I look for the best value for my money. It gets great gas mileage and has been a reliable car. Also do you know how many "foreign made" cars are actually for the most part are made here in the US?

Since the 1970's workers real income has decreased. Even though worker productivity has increased. This causes tax revenues to decrease. Meanwhile overall costs have increased. Therefore when the government needs to build or repair transportation facilities they are short of funds. If we want quality transportation we are going to have to build and repair this system. Good transportation also attracts business. Roads may not always be the best choice for our money.
My next question is, why are constantly being told that we have to subsidize business to get them to locate here? With lower wages and benefits, why are costs going up? Who's getting the money?

4bears...you mean like Doyle did with promising not too raise taxes and then added fees to every service he could think of?

carlit....for your info I drive a 13 year old Honda.

Donnaw Those are his puppets and they probably got an email from him to recommend it Through their underground JohnDoe@walker.scum. The middle class workers will never survive under the hateful republican leadership. As to checking how far you commute With all the money you are getting robbed of and may have to buy a cheap used car that has high miles. IMO you are doomed.

Maybe walker needs to pay for the damage to the Capital as *the Union Thugs did no damage* This might help if he pays the state back on many frograms as they said the damage exceeded 7 mil.
http://host.madison.com/news/local/govt-...

It's the Republican way... what don't you guys get? You know they need to increase revenue, so you vote for them because they promise NOT to raise taxes to do it. They still need the income so they hit you with gas tax, and increase fees, and your upset. Boy, who'd have thought....

Wisconsinresidentt....I agree and I am sure you feel the same way about our federal govt. What part of no don't they understand.

In my opinion I SAY NO new taxes and NO increase in the registration fees. Here is why I said that One we just got the price of gas in my area down to 3.09/gallon if you increase the gas tax that is going to push the price of gas up to 4.00/gallon dose anyone really want to see that happen? Two the fee we pay for our cars and trucks is already expensive as it is for example my plates on my truck run $80 plus tax money like that is hard for some people to come up with and a fee increase would make it much more expensive for low income drivers. In my opinion I would prefer a toll road as opposed to an increase in the gas tax and increasing the registration fees. What needs to happen is the D.O.T. needs to start learning they can't keep asking for more and more money every time they get a bug up their *** because they can't work with in their means like the rest of us have to and that is where the problem is. This is why in my opinion I say no increase in the gas tax or registration fees

The Wisconsin Commission on Transportation Finance and Policy was created by Scott Walker and his Republican lemmings when they ram rodded ACT 32 into law. The Commission consists of 10 voting members that are citizens and one non voting member Mark Gottlieb. Gottlieb was a Repulican Assembly Leader who was appointed by Walker as Secretary of Transportation. At least 5 of the appointed citizen members shall have experience in public
finance, transportation policy, or transportation system planning. There is not criteria for the other 5 citizen members. Currently 8 of the 10 citizen members are appointed the Republicans and two are appointed by the Democrats. The Democrats appointed two former mayors: Dave Cieslewicz and John Antaramian. Repbulicans appointed 8 members are:Tom Carlsen, Robert Cook, Barbara Fleisner Lamue, Mark Hanson, William Hanson, Rob Kahl, Craig Thompson, Tom Vanderberg. I have not researched the bios of the 8 Republican appointees. My guess is that they are a whos who of Wisconsin business people. Looks like yet another Walker stacked deck to help ram rod his agenda.

Smurf-99.9% of construction work is bid. Every once in a while you will see a private business hand out a construction job to a contractor with no bidding. Most companies and government use a bidding process to save money. The lowest bidder gets the job. My brother is a construction worker. Janesville is dead since the plant left. He used to have all kinds of work in town. Now he has to travel the State to feed his family. It is not uncommon for him these days to drive 1.5 hours one way to work. Sometimes he has to stay in hotels. This is on his dime, not the company he works for. The construction market is super tight. There is no money in the contracts to pay workers per diem for food and lodging. My brother was given a choice: Work out of town and pay your own way, or don't work. He is very happy to have a job in this market. I talked to my brother about this article. This is going to be a double whammy to him. He is going to have to pay higher gas tax and a very high mileage tax when this passes.

Theone....that's okay, you're forgiven. I expect no less snarkiness from you. And BTW if you want to know the make up of the committee google it or ask the Gazette. Do your own research.

Charge per mile this took a real bone head to come up with that one
Just go to toll roads
One - your post was right on

Oh Goody! another tax....
The democrats/liberals/socialists ought to love this.

Well to lower my annual miles driven maybe I'll just take the rail from Madison to Milwaukee. Oh wait.....

wasp2491: not sure what you were reading but NO, if we all drove gas guzzlers we would be using MORE gallons of gas and paying MORE in gas taxes for road work. But the Government has decreed that average fleet fuel economy has to almost double in the next few years. So need to find more places to find that tax money. Have to have more taxes no matter what the economy is ... Government only considers a decrease in the rate of projected increased spending as a Spending CUT. Certainly can not be expected to reduce by 1 cent every dollar they actually spend. Only the private citizens have to look at their income and expenses and actually cut back if income does not meet expenses. Unless of course you max out credit cards, file bankruptcy, and then live off of entitlements funded by others taxes and complain about those that have money. If you are the government and can print money, borrow money from other countries, and spend other peoples money, why would you actually reduce spending ???? btw, sarcasm

How about contracting local construction crews? That could save money if the local companies would cooperate and take a pay cut maybe that would help. Most construction companies jack up their rates to pay for hotel rooms & spending money all week for their employees to stay near the job. Why should we cover the cost for that? Stay local. Save money in the end. How many JP Cullen job sites are there locally vs. elsewhere in the state? Most aren't local.......

You are right Bill, I probably should. But sometimes some people only catch it when it comes back at them. Like fighting fire with fire. LOL.

find a way to make the bid process more competitive the margins on this work are obscene.also in the 70's the gov (feds) were serious about "bid rigging" now these companies/people donate to people in high places...

So let me see, if we all drove gas guzzlers, we would pay less in gas taxes. Now I got it. Why in the world didn't I think of that.

So let me ask this question because I always Wonder about things like this.
For decades we have said “we need more effect vehicles” we need to use less gas. So now we have more efficient vehicles that use less gas. They don’t drive fewer miles, they use the roads just as much as before BUT they use less gas.
So now we have the more efficient vehicle using less gas but the roads are used the same. Less gas means less gas tax collected. DID anyone NOT think the tax would have to go up to cover the roads? If not do you have you head buried in the sand (or snow)? You drive the same amount of miles, you use the roads the same but you pay less to do it. WAKE UP!!!! This is not Walker, it is not Doyle, it is the American public, we are to blame and no one else.

Theone, if you are going to chastise someone for their "snarkiness", shouldn't you do so absent the "snarkiness"?

I noticed that Janesvillean rather carefully chose his target (Wal-Mart) in his rant... er, post below. He could just as well have chosen the heirs to the Kohl's fortune for the target of his rant. Our outgoing Senator is an heir to his family's large fortune. I wonder if Janesvillean holds the Senator in as much disdain as he does the heirs of Sam Walton. I'll bet he has a different attitude toward Herb. I also bet he holds a different attitude to the heirs of another family fortune whose patriarch earned millions bootlegging during Prohibition. That family produced U.S. Senators, Representatives and even a president among the heirs of old Joe Kennedy. But I'm certain that in Janesvillean's mind, just as Herb gets a pass, so do the Kennedys. But the Waltons are fair game, isn't that so Janesvillean. Janesvillean seems to be getting quite the reputation for unfair-mindedness of late.

I guess you have to pay for those state employee pensions some way.

donnaw...
I did read it carefully little girl.

Yes it does say COMMISSION. It does not say WHAT commission....only "A COMMISSION."

It also does not say what the makeup of "the commission" is.

So, please put your typical snarkiness aside and tell us what commission and the makeup of that commission.

Or are you too full of yourself?

Your rite wasp. Most people won’t because it sounds more like an anti-Wal-Mart rant..I had to read it a few times to make sure I knew what he was talking about...And I'm still not 100% sure I know. But let me take a stab at it cuz I think I agree..I'm sick of cooperate subsidies too. Because it’s we the tax payers that have to make up for these.. Oil,corn, Wind and solar farms subsidies should be eliminated. Along with cooperate welfares like the GM bailout and GE not paying taxes. Let businesses succeed or fail on their own. Let our tax money go 100% to what they are intended for. Plus this helps take care of political "favors" that corrupt our systems of government... Am I close?

janesvillean - I couldn't agree more. But most people won't believe most of it.

Well, well, well. It seems our highly inefficient automobile transportation system is a big, honking (literally!) chicken coming home to roost.
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Practically every municipal street or county road in the country is financed by property taxes, not vehicle taxes. Even the federal gas tax only covers about half the cost of the Interstate Highway System and other federal roads -- the rest is subsidized by general taxpayers. Clearly, our society is at this moment PAYING THOSE COSTS.
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What this proposal will do is SHIFT those costs to the entities that are now benefiting from an enormous subsidy toward road vehicle users. One of those, for instance, is the nation's biggest employer, Walmart. Its computer-controlled efficiencies are largely based on socializing as much of the company's costs as possible, which means WE pay those costs. We build the roads; we subsidize the TIFs; and we even pay much of the health system costs that Walmart chooses not to cover by keeping its staff under the regulatory minimums. We are helping Walmart (and they're not alone; they're just the biggest offender) keep its costs low while selling us plastic and polyester crap made in China, Thailand, and elseswhere at slave-labor wages, and of course the benefit is primarily reaped by investors, such as the Walton family, among the world's richest individuals.
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This, folks, is what happens when you subsidize a losing proposition.
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To be sure, it's not just shameless private businesses that refuse to bear these costs; it's also the whole structure of our society, built on cheap land and rural and exurban sprawl, with its astronomically higher construction and maintenance costs compared with efficient, transit-oriented urban downtown cores. The math when you look at it in aggregate is really appalling.

This was a recommendation to Walker by a committee paid for and appointed by Walker. Obviously these aren't Walker's ideas...he's not sharp enough to come up with them on his own.

Sounds like a job killer to me. ;-)
These aren't taxes, they might argue, they are fees.
The only one classified as a tax is really voluntary.
No one is forcing you to buy gasoline.
You can always walk, bike, or pay someone to push your car.

Tolls on the border,plain and simple.

gbpacker1994: Well said. My favorite Law of Unintended Consequences. Bad economy = less people going to work or taking vacations = less gallons of gas used. Higher gas prices = less gallons used. Dictated higher average fuel economy standards by the Federal government - less gallons used. Result = less revenue collected so now transportation funding hurting. Has nothing to do with Walker. So answers proposed by commission will, for the most part, raise revenue short term but long term hurt those least able to afford it. Oh, and to the person wanting to know how they would know how many miles you drive ... the Federal Government is dictating that a black box be installed in every new vehicle built. Next step will be to dictate installation in all vehicles. Big Brother is watching you. Not paranoia .. just fact. Already know when and where I go in any states that I use my I-Pass in.

People can't afford vehicles as it is and they suggest raising taxes???? Why not just ban automobiles and have everything be public transportation????

Where were all these people when Gov. Doyle raided the transportation fund to support his projects. He took 1.3 billion out to "balance the budget". Don't forget the 2 billion WI got from the stimulus which he used to increase spending on projects some of which have to continue to be funded today. I don't support raising taxes or fees but if we can't lower spending the money has to come from somewhere. If it was a toll then at least if you use the road you help pay for the road.

I live in WI. I use the roads. I don't mind helping to pay to keep them up, as repaired roads benefit me. However, what about those from IL, IA, MI, MN who drive into WI on regular jaunts. How do we track their 3000-20000 miles? Guess I have to make up for their costs? I'd rather we put in a toll system. Oh, wait, then tourists won't come? Oh, please. If you want to escape Chicago, you'll come to Wisconsin.

YIKES!

Sure beats paying $1 per toll on the expressway.

donnaw, you are so right!!! The Walker haters are out in full force. It was a suggestion made by a commission. If people want to really hate, how about really hate on Obama for the miserable job he's done the last 4 years??!! He's added more federal spending, mostly on wasteful projects and entitlements. If you think the commission's proposal is bad, wait until all of you Obama lovers start paying for Obamacare. Tighten your belts. The healthcare TAX is coming your way.

donnaw: you hit it on the head. Maybe we need to start thinking about reducing instead of increasing taxes/fees. Change driver Lic. renewal to every 4 years instead of eight. Reduce the gas tax by 5% and more people will buy more gas not less. The only solution is not to increase all the time--let's reduce it once an while.

Read it carefully little ones, it is the recommendation from a COMMISSION to Gov Walker and the legislature (remember that group that is comprised of both Repubs and Dems?). Some of you are so anxious to hate Walker you blame him for something he hasn't even done!

This must be more of those tools Walker's been talking about...Just another hit to the regular guy while corporations keep their huge tax incentives without having to actually create a single job in order to get those incentives! For someone living in Milton and working in Janesville that could add up to $10 a month in fees. All these tea party supporters want smaller and more limited government...How does this possibly limit the governemt? More fees, more monitoring, higher fuel costs.

Ho, Ho, Ho Merry Christmas from Scottie the Grinch.

I would unhook my odometer. Being taxed based on the number of miles you drive is absurd.

We need to fund the roads and their repairs but nowhere do I see where the out of State drivers would help pay for this except by the increased gasoline tax. Time to get some of that money from the Hotel tax that is collected from many out of State visitors.

So they are going to create more reasons for people not to drive and travel so there will be even less money available. Brilliant.

Horrible ideas.

If they would just use the money they already collect from the federal gov't, motor fuel tax, fees, etc ONLY for transportation, I'm sure they could afford to run things on the approximately 1 billion a year they're collecting. Let's hope someone comes up with a better idea than these suggestions.

how would they know how many miles you drive?

This is a great way to make drives pay the actual cost associated with highways!

That is a great way to kill businesses and punish those that have to commute to work.