We have identified a prius owner to interview. We will post again to let you know when the story will air. Thanks for your comments and interest.
Re: Urgent -- CBS News is looking to interview a prius owner In some countries, there is a tax on news interviews; that is, reporters must make a contribution to get their (presumably untainted) source material. Order a PriusChat calendar and we'll talk.
I'm a Prius owner in Chicagoland, so you don't want to interview me. But I have to wonder what the government would come up with if people actually stop smoking. God forbid we should all stop drinking alcohol. Where oh where would all the "sin tax" come from? If the money from gasoline taxes really are designed to pay for road improvements, perhaps the government should put that money into building better roads. Most European roads are considerably thicker than American roads. The thickness means that they warp less, ride better, and last longer, requiring less touch-up. Rather than using the money to perpetuate short-sighted maintenance, use it to build longer lasting roads for long-term development.
Re: Urgent -- CBS News is looking to interview a prius owner Tony, it's CBS.. they'll interview you at a Kinko's in Cicero.. or maybe at a bridge with Jimmy Hoffa... :lol:
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(TonyPSchaefer\";p=\"54238)</div> AMEN! If you really want to see how crappy roads can be thanks to short-sighted policies, travel around North West Ontario. You will think you have journeyed to a third-world country.
look they need the money to repair the roads.. . Cars like the Prius weigh less than the avg. car.. and there for cause less damage to the road... Now the "Big Rigs" 18 wheelers cause lots of damage what with their size and load cap. go after them... leave the status as it is now. This sounds of more "BIG Brother" to me.. They want more money... cut out the pork.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(pjm877\";p=\"54288)</div> Big trucks already pay a massive amount of highway taxes. Figure on about $150k per year, per truck on the highways, and I'm deliberately figuring that number low.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Wolfman\";p=\"54671)</div> Your figure confuses me. Many of the trucks that pass me on Interstate 10 display their yearly tax burden on the back of the trailers, especially the big national companies like Schneider and J.B. Hunt. The statement reads something like "This Vehicle pays $x,xxx each year in road taxes." The figures I've seen are in the range of $4K to $7K per year. I don't believe I've ever seen a figure more than $7K, and most are around $5K.
There is WAY more to what they pay, than just at the pump, and the overwhelming majority of it goes to the general fund for road repair. There is even a percentage of these taxes, that goes back to the railroads believe it or not. I've seen those signs as well. However, I recall them being well over the $100k figure. Haven't seen one in a while though.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Wolfman\";p=\"54734)</div> Yes, that is true. However, the railroads also pay into the Transportation Trust Fund. This fund used to be called the Highway Trust Fund, but the railroads complained when Congress forced them to pay into it many years ago and got nothing back, so Congress compromised....sort of. :roll:
Higher taxes on trucker/rail companies just end up costing the consumer more. Be interesting to do the math for a real flat tax. No taxes on commercial businesses ( they are just collector of taxes anyway 'cause they just pass that along to consumers). No fancy loopholes just a single percentage on EVERYTHING earned by any individual who makes over what is determined to be required for a reasonable life style( this would require considerable research but should be possible). Just think about it ... you do your income calculations on the back of a postcard size piece of paper and send it in. The few folks in IRS/Revenue Canada and H & R Block, et al, would then be used primarily to chase down the "underground economists" who could be put to work repairing our highways. :?: :silly:
Hey folks, Remember it's CBS that is doing the interview. If you drive a Hummer and live in New York that's close enough for CBS. They can paint the Hummer to look like a Prius and put it on 60 minutes with Dan Blather swearing that it's true
If the system is broken-- ie, they can't make enough money off gas taxes to pay for repairs-- I've got no problem with them coming up with a new system to allow them to fix it. But if you're going to make a new system, make it fair-- there's no way that you should have the same per-mile charge for an Insight (1887#) and a Hummer (7558#)
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Jim S.\";p=\"55075)</div> This concept probably will cause alot of discussion, but the following tax concept would make taxation fair for everyone in this Country. 1 - Dissolve ALL current taxation methods, 100%, everything barring nothing! 2 - Implement a fixed percentage tax for EVERYTHING that is transferred from one party to another. This would include material goods, services, money, etc. For instance, the mine operator would collect a tax when the ore is sold to the refiner, the refined metal would be taxed when it is sold to the manufacturer, the finished product would taxed when it is sold to the distributor, etc. It has been estimated that, if this concept were to be implemented, the tax would be as low as 3%. Why? Because there would be NO loopholes and every person and organization would have to pay it. The motivation here is that people and companies would not be taxed on what they earned, only on what they spent. That is, what I earn is mine and I want to keep all of it. But I'm willing to spend it when I want to buy something and I'm willing to pay what I feel is a fair price, including taxes. Now for reality....this is a very old concept, but has never been implemented. Why, because those who have the authority to implement it are just as greedy as the rest of us, but much more powerful....they're in Congress! Congress has its own no-cost guaranteed health care plan. So they see no reason to fix the national health care problem. Congress has its own guaranteed retirement at FULL salary after only one term. Congress does not need Social Security, so there is no reason for them to fix that problem either. I could give many more examples, but I assume you get the point.
Fascinating how CBS gets attacked for using faulty documents for a story that is essentially true while an administration that uses faulty documents to make a mistaken case for war gets re-elected. Only in America.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(prius04\";p=\"55142)</div> [font=Comic Sans MS:fa71e22eea] AMEN![/font:fa71e22eea]
