Besides being #1 in government corruption, PA is by far #1 in gasoline taxes per gallon. So we got that going for us. But wait. We also have the highest toll rates in the country. As someone who spend 2 to 3 hours per day driving in the fucked up state of PA, I’m proud as punch. At least our roads are free of potholes and traffic congestion because we pay so much. Oops!!!
The roads suck. Dozens of PA Dept. of Transportation officials reside in state prison. Union drones fixing our roads are slow, but at least they’re expensive. I’ll have plenty of time to think about how my gas taxes are being spent during my usual 1 hour and 45 minute Friday night commute home.
A guy who cut my hair years ago had fled Pennsylvania for Charlotte, NC. He said he asked his son-in-law what his job was with the highway dept. The boy told him his job was $22 per hour and that was in the late ’80s.
The boy saw the job that way, as what the hourly wage was. Al said all the asshole ever did at work was stand around, holding a shovel. The union saw to it that he didn’t have to actually work.
That might be part of the problem in states like PA.
I feel your pain.
Virginia is fairly low on your chart. However, we could all send in our entire income to road taxes, and the state goobermint would figure out a way to waste it without repairing the roads or doing anything substantial to solve/alleviate the congestion problem. I do hear that they are spending tons of $$$$ around Northern Virginia though. I wish that part of the state would secede from Virginia.
The latest thing those “no-tax” republicans, led by Toll Booth Bob McDonald, decided to do is implement tolling. They think the public is fooled by naming a tax a “fee” or “toll”. In my area specifically, they slapped steep tolls on the tunnels between Norfolk and Portsmouth. This has had a significant negative effect on businesses on both sides–many have closed.
Meanwhile, the public-private partnership tolling outfit, who got the deal of the century, rapes the public for ridiculous sums, and it’s every bit as inefficient as VDOT itself. I’d like an investigation of Toll Booth Bob for that deal.
And then there’s the city of Norfolk. Plenty of money to give incentives to artsy-type “businesses”, to buy a sailing ship so underprivileged kids can “experience the water”, and to draw up a plan for a low-rent section of Norfolk for 50 years out (yes, I said 50 years). And they’ve shoved light rail down our throats—a complete and total waste of money.
Pot holes and shitty roads abound though. I hit one recently that knocked off a spark plug wire.
It’s criminal.
Damn! Runner up again!
At least we don’t have state income tax. That helps.
Admin- Is there any good reason to live in PA? Aside from your mom and family ties.
Bea
A well paying job, all of our relatives, kids in school.