Letters

The Shell Game

Posted 7/21/15

To the Editor:

Governor Gina Raimondo, House Speaker Nicholas Matiello and Senator Teresa Paiva Weed have banded together to convince us that the culprit of decaying roads and bridges is the heavy …

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Letters

The Shell Game

Posted

To the Editor:

Governor Gina Raimondo, House Speaker Nicholas Matiello and Senator Teresa Paiva Weed have banded together to convince us that the culprit of decaying roads and bridges is the heavy trucking industry, so that they should pay more. I’m not buying it. The trucking industry already pays twice as much because the heavy vehicles use two or three times as much gas as the regular family cars. If they place this burden on the trucking industry, they will automatically add this to the price of food and all the products that are shipped by trucks.

The true culprit is that the legislature and governors of the present and past did not take the proper action for decades and ducked the issue. The Department of Transportation admits that not one cent of the gasoline tax revenue was used for repairs of roads and bridges. Step 1: Calculate the cost and make it [something] you can afford. Step 2: Remove the toll on the Pell Bridge; it is a deterrent for tourism. It is unfair for all those cities and towns that surround the bridge, such as Newport, Middletown, etc. It is double taxation for the population of those communities. The idea of tolls for roads and bridges is archaic. The gasoline tax is the fairest way to finance. If you are retired and a senior, you will pay less. If you are unemployed or disabled, you will pay less because you don’t use your vehicle as often. If you are gainfully employed or prospering or have a couple of vehicles, you will pay more. Those using the roads will pay more.

I’m tired as a senior and living on a fixed income to be assessed double fees for this and double fees for that. The present thinking of the current leaders; these people who are prospering enough – employment and businesses – should be grateful enough to pay their share.

What a tourism motto – come to R.I., no tolls on roads and bridges. Spend your money on our wonderful food and great beaches. See historic mansions, sail your boats in our wonderful bays. Keep in mind that tourists buy gas. Establish law that says all monies from gasoline taxes must be used for roads and bridges. Increase the gasoline tax to 30 or 40 cents a gallon and set up repairs immediately. This will produce jobs, reduce unemployment, and generate sales taxes.

Start today. No more talk. Action. Set up a committee of citizens that are interested in making R.I. number one, not 50th. Do not finance pay as you go. All the more to spend on repairs. When everything is being rated 50th, you can’t afford not to listen to suggestions.

The governor and the legislature have proven that arrogance rates you 50th. When you listen, you learn. If you don’t, you yearn. Change the sales tax to 3 percent for all goods and service. We will gain population.

How about being inventive? A day of labor gets a day off your sentence. Prisoners cost us $60,000 a year.

Elmer Gardiner

Warwick

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