PA has more freeze thaw cycles than Vermont. Places that stay below freezing most of winter actually have less road damage than places that fluctuate constantly near the freezing point.

https://www.paauditor.gov/press-releases/auditor-general-depasquale-penndot-audit-finds-4-2-billion-diverted-from-repairing-roads-bridges

https://www.pennlive.com/news/2019/04/penndot-audit-finds-425-billion-diverted-from-repairing-pa-roads-bridges-auditor-general.html?outputType=amp

https://www.tribdem.com/news/wolf-calls-for-plan-to-wean-state-off-gas-tax/article_ab7ffb92-cfca-5233-982f-13c98a71869c.html

https://www.pachamber.org/media/3886/lawmakers_call_for_federal_and_state_gas_tax_relief/

That $4.3 billion was for operations of state police and not just retirees pensions. It was over ten years and amounted to only ten percent of pendot s budget over that time period

Wolfe can’t rewrite the law. If the automatic increases are written into the law by the legislature and the law is signed by a previous governor, he has no authority to stop the increase without breaking the law.

>I think the outrage belongs to the legendary gas tax installed by the Corbett era (republican) and increased two more times during the Wolfe (democrat) era.

Wolfe didn’t increase the gas tax. Those were automatic increases from the Corbett law

> It’s the added tax to the gas pump. It was touted as a tax to fix our roads and bridges when they passed it… instead 4.3 billion went to the pensions of the state police. 4.3 billion.

That’s not entirely accurate. The $4.3b is the entire state police budget over several years. Democrats proposed changing the law to charge rural areas state police user fees. Regardless, that 4.3b is only ten percent of the entire pendot budget so it isn’t the only factor affecting pendot budget issues. Some issues are

decades of lower taxes and deferred maintenance has created a massive backlog

more state miles of roads per capita than almost every other state in the country

located in climate zone that has some of the most frequent freeze thaw cycles leading to defrosting roads

State is especially susceptible to landslides that destroy road

Anemic population growth but same amount of roads

Elderly population doesn’t pay income tax.

I don’t want to minimize the severity of his problem or any mental health issues but It feels disrespectful to start talking about his replacement. He’s not the first senator to have a stroke or other issues and take time off.

I had a major injury and was offered an inpatient intensive mental health treatment program. It’s a little different than checking yourself in for suicidal thoughts. It’s not as common because it’s expensive and hard to get insurance to pay

Don’t talk about this sort of crap. The guy isn’t dying. Aren’t there more important things to talk about? Get a life….

State police are around ten percent of pendot budget. Demcorats have tried to get rural republicans to pay their fair share of state police funding but conservatives only believe in self sufficiency for other people and not themselves. If the state had a higher income tax or more working age people, this would be less of an issue. Pa also has three times as many miles of state road as New York. We even have twice as many as ohio.

Sounds like they just wanted an excuse for a new car

>. Have you been living under a rock?

Yes that’s where all the gas is.

> The big debate over charging municipalities without police for state police coverage is all premised on being able to pay for state police without filling into the fuel tax revenues as they have for years now.

What does that have to do with pensions?

> Maybe try a couple states that are a bit bluer and not a thousand miles away. New York? Massachusetts? PA is cheaper than both.

I was listing states that have locally sourced cheap gas, and are more blue than PA. You listed blue states that have no local geological deposits of gas so I’m not sure what your trying to prove.

Why are you against the US providing military aid to a democratically elected government in a country who has been invaded by an unwelcome aggressor who is bombing cities and homes?

It doesn’t sound like you are interested in changing public opinion and instead you just want to find a safe space and echo chamber

> Really because a huge chunk of the DOT funds goes to pay for pensions for state employees.

What is the actual percentage? Other reasons might be because we have an elderly population that doesn’t pay much income tax.

> Also do you think those natural gas rates are higher because of democratic or Republican actions in PA?

democrats have a crazy philosophy of not destroying land and ecosystems in the name of exporting cheap energy out of state

https://commodity.com/blog/natural-gas-states/

>. The cheapest natural gas isn’t found in blue states, that’s for sure.

New Mexico? Colorado?

> US should not push East towards Russia border just like we wouldn't want Russia to occupy Mexico or Canada

Thats not an accurate analogy. What is happening in Ukraine is analogous to the US invading Canada or Mexico with Russia coming to their defense with funds for weapons. We are not pushing toward Russia and in fact Russia is pushing towards Western Europe against the will of a sovereign nation who has asked for our help and in violation of international law.

Are you against helping Ukraine? You aren’t being specific enough. That’s why people are making fun of you.

Who are we currently at war with in South America, Asia and Africa? The southern hemisphere is 10% of world, and doesn’t include China or the Middle East

The toxins are going to be diluted over such a wide area that only a small five mile radius around the crash will be affected. It’s not like accidents like this have never happened before and we have a general idea what the impact will be. Compared to fracking, and the plastics factory in beaver, the toxins from t accident will be diluted below the background levels of pollution in the air every day.

Which war?

Your assessment wasn’t fair because the county used a biased inflation adjustment and that’s why they lost the lawsuit over assessments recently. The high millage rate is not really relevant to this issue and the lawsuit. There are plenty of other conversations about the high millage rates and the state lost a recent lawsuit about school funding so that might change in the future. What do you think is a fair way to fund schools?

Both should be reassessed at the same time otherwise the system is unequal unless adjusted for inflation properly

Another cool trick is real estate developers use ground leases and creative corporate structures to avoid transfer taxes

Or they could just use a good inflation adjuster instead of using biased data that caused them to lose the lawsuit

You are funny

Houses that haven’t sold for decades are hard to assess and recent sales end up paying a lot higher taxes than older sales. The county is supposed to adjust for inflation but they lost a lawsuit bc they were using biased data to calculate inflation

Just because it didn’t happen to you doesn’t mean it didn’t happen to other people