Gas tax cap costly

It will be worse Carlton...MORE CORRUPTION WITHOUT INTERRUPTION and her arrogant staff thinks its funny. I hope she gets backed into a corner that exposes MORE corruption by her and her people.

"And if you knew what happened in 06-07 you would know they really just monkeyed with the numbers to look like they were paying back the remaining portion of "loans" from the previous 5 years when they took more than $170M."

Okay, so: in 06/07 they paid back part of what had been taken (above the $170 million) in previous years, in 07/08 they just went a little over the target, and 08/09 they're taking $25 million less than normal (unless you consider a turnpike non-highway-related). In other words, in the last three years there has been no "raiding" of the Highway Trust Fund, correct?

In other words, statements like, "If they would just stop raiding the Highway Trust Fund..." are not accurate. They're not accurate now, and they weren't accurate when they were tossed around by candidates during this previous election campaign.

Ok, sorry for questioning your integrity when I should have been questioning your reading comprehension skills. What you quoted said "IN FISCAL YEAR 2006-2007".

And if you knew what happened in 06-07 you would know they really just monkeyed with the numbers to look like they were paying back the remaining portion of "loans" from the previous 5 years when they took more than $170M. The actual transfer out of the HTF in 06-07 was $202.7M reduced by the payback of loans. (Read the committee report for yourself here: http://www.ncleg.net/sessions/2005/budget/2006/budgetreport6-30.pdf)

For the current fiscal year I refer you to HB2436 (the FY2008-09 budget):
http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2007/Bills/House/PDF/H2436v9.pdf

Sec 25.5(a) states: ""(b) Transfer. – In each fiscal year the State Treasurer shall transfer the amounts provided below from the taxes deposited in the Trust Fund to the General Fund. The transfer of funds authorized by this section may be made by transferring one-fourth of the amount at the end of each quarter in the fiscal year or by transferring the full amount
annually on July 1 of each fiscal year, subject to the availability of revenue.
(1) The sum of one hundred seventy million dollars ($170,000,000).

Which was then reduced to $145,000,000 to give $25 million to the NC Turnpike Authority.

For a little recent history of transfers from the HTF by year:
2001-02: $251.7M
2002-03: $377.4M
2003-04: $252.4M
2004-05: $242.6M
2005-06: $252.6M
2006-07: $202.7M (reduced to "payback loans")
2007-08: $172.5M
2008-09: $147.5M ($25M given to NC Turnpike Authority).

But thanks for playing.

"You're just making up the $57.5 million figure."

That's not the way I work, and you should consider what arbitrarily questioning another person's integrity says about your own integrity.

http://staging.www.osc.state.nc.us/financial/07_cafr/Financial_Section/Notes/Note9.pdf

"When the Highway Trust Fund was created in 1989, the revenue from the sales tax on motor vehicles was transferred from the
General Fund to the Highway Trust Fund. To offset a portion of this revenue loss in the General Fund, the Highway Trust Fund is
required to transfer funds to the General Fund each year. Senate Bill 1741 [Session Law 2006-66], reduced the amount transferred
in fiscal year 2006-2007 to $57.487 million, considerably less than the transfer requirement in prior years."

I wonder what Mayor Pat McCrory thinks about this?

Oh, that's right, he doesn't matter.

The transfer out of the HTF was $145 million last year. They took $25 million out to give to the Turnpike Authority.

You're just making up the $57.5 million figure.

Oh i agree jason deans. It would be wonderful if our government in both Raleigh and DC would learn to live within their means and quit racking up tremendous deficits and debts that can't possibly be paid off in the near term.

"Maybe if they quit raiding the Highway Trust Fund then there wouldn't be this large gap in the budget."

When the Highway Trust Fund was created in 1989, the transfer of $170 million (per year) was written into the law, to keep the amount of car taxes that had been going to schools & services the same. Without that transfer, it would have equated to a cut in funding for schools so we could build more roads.

Now, Governor Easley did "raid" (over and above the $170 million) the Fund several years in a row (2002-2006), but last year the transfer was only $57.5 million, over $112 million below what the 1989 law dictated.

"But there's no money. We're going to have to find it somewhere and it's going to have to be in the form of a tax or fee."

It's sad that the discussion is always about finding more money...occasionally it would be nice to hear someone say:

"We just don't have the money. We have to look for ways to trim our budget".

Visions of sugar plums...

Can someone explain how "the state's variable gas tax formula" works?

Boohoo for the government. Maybe if they quit raiding the Highway Trust Fund then there wouldn't be this large gap in the budget. I thought I was going to be able to celebrate Easley being gone, but with Perdue coming in I have a feeling it will only be worse.

Costly to whom? Government? Like the money belongs to it first and is then willed back to the taxpayers?

Why is this not written about by saying the Gas Tax Cap has saved taxpayers $600M over the past two years?

That money has had a much greater impact in the pockets of every North Carolinian than it could have ever had in the hands of government. I mean, we've all seen the way the DOT allocates funds.

Taxpayers keeping more money is NOT a "cost" to government. It's a savings to all of us.