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Tuesday, January 08, 2008

Why Not Toll Booths


I want to first say "I don't agree with the occupational privilege tax the county Mayor A.C. Wharton is proposing." I think this is just a way for A.C. Wharton to farther cater to his base. The opposition will simmer down as soon as they figure it out. If you look at this proposal, who does it really affect? The majority of workers that live outside Shelby county, aren't employed by the county anyway. Let's just be honest here, most people that work for the county earn more than $28,000 a year. Especially those workers with a full-time job. Many of those workers who don't earn that much, don't live outside the county anyway. If someone wants to play the race card in this whole thing. This will definitely disproportionately affect blacks. In a majority black population. Who do you think holds these jobs?

Mayor Herenton brought this up when he was running for office for a fifth consecutive term. I noticed it hasn't come back up since he was elected. If it was a good idea only two months ago, it's a good idea now. You best believe it's not over. Doing this would solve a multitude of problems. Why not Toll Booths?

4 comments:

  1. Anonymous6:50 PM

    STATE OF THE COUNTY

    Shelby County Mayor A C Wharton announced his support for a consolidated Metro government Monday that would keep separate school systems.

    In order to help the county meet a $14.5 million funding gap next year, Wharton also asked County Commissioners to consider a privilege tax on all employees in Shelby County.

    In a financial snapshot, Wharton said a debt management plan has reduced annual borrowing to $75 million, primarily for schools.

    The county's debt, according to Wharton, is down to $1.76 billion.

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  2. Anonymous11:26 PM

    I'm not a fan of toll roads because the gasoline tax was supposed to be specifically for road building. For years, government officials bragged about having a pay-as-you-go system versus floating bonds to pay for improvements like other states. If we go to toll roads, the gasoline money will likely go into the general fund.

    I would consider HOT lanes, where they allow people to pay a toll to use a particular part of the road (i.e., HOV lanes). The reason I can agree to that is because most people break HOV lane laws anyway. We can at least make some money off of them.

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