Page 11 of 13 FirstFirst ... 910111213 LastLast
Results 101 to 110 of 126

Thread: The Republican Love Fest After the Tax Bill was passed.......

  1. #101
    Senior Member catherine's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    Vermont
    Posts
    14,635
    Quote Originally Posted by jp1 View Post
    One would think so, but anyone who has purchased gas in NY and NJ is well aware that gas in NJ is actually cheaper despite the fact that NJ is all full service.
    I can vouch heartily for that very fact. When we drive to New York, we make sure we gas up in NJ first. Or if we have to buy gas in NY, we only buy enough to get us across the bridge.

    Edited to add this excerpt from the NYTimes:

    Chris Christie proposed self-serve gas during his gubernatorial campaign in 2009, but dropped the proposal because the negative response from the public was so ferocious. At a town hall-style meeting in 2016, he said that it was a gender issue, citing a poll that indicated that 78 percent of women in the state were only too happy to stay in their cars.

    Ashley Koning, the director of the Eagleton Center for Public Interest Polling at Rutgers University, said in an interview that the idea of pumping one’s own gas had never been broadly favorable in New Jersey.

    “It’s kind of one of the third rails of state politics,” she said, noting that women and older people in particular enjoyed the service.
    "Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it--every, every minute?" Emily Webb, Our Town
    www.silententry.wordpress.com

  2. #102
    Simpleton Alan's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    Ohio
    Posts
    9,389
    Quote Originally Posted by jp1 View Post
    One would think so, but anyone who has purchased gas in NY and NJ is well aware that gas in NJ is actually cheaper despite the fact that NJ is all full service. So I thought maybe the gas tax in NY is significantly higher. According to wikipedia the difference is $.0678 per gallon. A quick search on gasbuddy of current prices in Trenton and Albany, two relatively small cities that don't have comparable non-red-hot real estate costs turned up the following:

    Trenton:
    Several non name brand gas stations ranging in the $2.39 - $2.45 price range
    Name brand gas stations (Exxon/Conoco, etc) in the $2.69 - $2.74 range

    Albany:
    No discernable difference in price between generic and branded stations.
    Cheapest single station $2.52
    Median: around $2.58 - $2.60
    Most expensive single station $2.85

    Adding 7 cents to the full service NJ prices to account for the tax difference puts Trentonians exactly in the range that Albanians are paying for self service. And if people in both cities search out the cheapest option the Trentonian actually comes out ahead.
    That's interesting!

    Being a history buff, I can look back at my own life as a consumer of gasoline and remember when many gas stations had some pumps designated as full-serve and others designated as self-serve. The self-serve price was always several cents per gallon cheaper. I guess I'll have to look beyond the obvious to figure that one out all these years later.
    "Things should be made as simple as possible, but not one bit simpler." ~ Albert Einstein

  3. #103
    Senior Member jp1's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    San Francisco
    Posts
    9,797
    The thing i found curious about the nj/ny differences is that nj name brand gas is significantly more expensive, but in ny it’s not.

    Regarding the cost of employing gas jockeys i suppose it depends on the particulars of the station i routinely (well, as routinely as anyone who only drives about 4,000/miles per year) buy gas at an Arco station just north of the city that is always at least $.20 cheaper than anywhere else in the bay area. Lots of other people do too. All twelve pumps are always being utilized. A quick back of the envelope calculation of twelve cars per pump per hour buying an average of fifteen gallons each works out to $.0138 per gallon, assuming two minimum wage employees. A smaller or less busy station might not be as cost effective but if the station doesnt have a quicky mart then they could just make the existing booth worker go outside and pump gas and collect money instead of just collecting the occasional cash payment like they now do.

  4. #104
    Senior Member jp1's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    San Francisco
    Posts
    9,797
    Quote Originally Posted by dmc View Post
    And the Democrat motto seems to be I don’t have it so let’s take yours.
    I guess that's why HUD's budget is roughly half the amount that is saved by taxpayers who can afford to benefit from the mortgage interest deduction. Who exactly is subsidizing who...

    I'm fine with republican selfishness of the "i've got mine, so **** all y'all" mentality. After all, trying to control what other people think is a fool's game. I just wish they'd be honest enough to own up to it. Personally I'll continue to drop roughly $35k/year in state/federal/withholding taxes until I retire and believe that it's a worthwhile price to pay to live in a great, if imperfect, country like the USA.

  5. #105
    Senior Member catherine's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    Vermont
    Posts
    14,635
    Quote Originally Posted by jp1 View Post
    I'm fine with republican selfishness of the "i've got mine, so **** all y'all" mentality. After all, trying to control what other people think is a fool's game. I just wish they'd be honest enough to own up to it. Personally I'll continue to drop roughly $35k/year in state/federal/withholding taxes until I retire and believe that it's a worthwhile price to pay to live in a great, if imperfect, country like the USA.
    +1
    "Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it--every, every minute?" Emily Webb, Our Town
    www.silententry.wordpress.com

  6. #106
    Senior Member dmc's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2011
    Posts
    1,260
    Quote Originally Posted by jp1 View Post
    I guess that's why HUD's budget is roughly half the amount that is saved by taxpayers who can afford to benefit from the mortgage interest deduction. Who exactly is subsidizing who...

    I'm fine with republican selfishness of the "i've got mine, so **** all y'all" mentality. After all, trying to control what other people think is a fool's game. I just wish they'd be honest enough to own up to it. Personally I'll continue to drop roughly $35k/year in state/federal/withholding taxes until I retire and believe that it's a worthwhile price to pay to live in a great, if imperfect, country like the USA.
    if I only paid 35k a year I wouldn’t complain either. And I live in a low tax state. Nothing like working 50-60 hrs a week for years to help subsidize those who put in the minimum.

    And im fine with doing away with all deductions, let’s all just pay the same rate. Then everyone would have some skin in the game.

  7. #107
    Senior Member jp1's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    San Francisco
    Posts
    9,797
    A flat tax might work. The federal budget is approximately 21% of GDP. Let’s set it there. After all, people at the lower end of the income spectrum are already currently paying 15.3% and people at the top are likely paying between 15-20%. Bumping the rate to 21%, especially if we keep the standard deduction in place, shouldn’t hurt the poor or the rich too much and everyone in the middle would get a tax break.

  8. #108
    Senior Member dmc's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2011
    Posts
    1,260
    I say throw out the standard deduction to. Let everyone pay on each dollar earned. Then set the percent on whatever is needed. Then everyone may be a little more interested in what the government spends our money on.

  9. #109
    Senior Member iris lilies's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2013
    Location
    Always logged in
    Posts
    25,378
    Quote Originally Posted by dmc View Post
    I say throw out the standard deduction to. Let everyone pay on each dollar earned. Then set the percent on whatever is needed. Then everyone may be a little more interested in what the government spends our money on.
    There’s not only deductions, there are credits and there are exemptions. Just pay the damn tax, already, people!

    I agree, everyone paying a little in gives fhem skin in the game.

  10. #110
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Posts
    8,306
    Quote Originally Posted by jp1 View Post
    A flat tax might work. The federal budget is approximately 21% of GDP. Let’s set it there. After all, people at the lower end of the income spectrum are already currently paying 15.3% and people at the top are likely paying between 15-20%. Bumping the rate to 21%, especially if we keep the standard deduction in place, shouldn’t hurt the poor or the rich too much and everyone in the middle would get a tax break.
    That 21% limit would probably be impossible to sustain unless we're willing to put limits on entitlement spending growth. Paul Ryan and I would be willing to help you try.

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •