Road use taxes?

Bridge collapses out west.  We have pot holes big enough to swallow cars.  Exactly what does the government do with the gas taxes, the taxes on the trucks, the registration fees and all those other fees and permits they charge for trucks and other vehicles to use the roads?  I'm guessing it's not maintenance like it was suppose to be.  Probably into the black hole of social programs to buy their votes in the next election.

Question for immigrants

I have a question for immigrants legal or illegal. You immigrated to my country because the country and government you lived in didn't give you the rights, freedom, money, lifestyle, opportunities or something you wanted that my country America offers. So why when you get here do you want to change America into the 3rd world backwards country that you left because you didn't like it? It's up to you to change not us. We still (somehow despite the present regime) are the best country in the world for freedom and opportunities so if that's what you want, you need to change not America or Americans.

If not leave go back to where you came from. This is America.

Taxes or theft

It is not the right or job of the government federal or state to be the equalizer of the personal finances of working, taxpaying citizens. The U.S. Was founded as a capitalistic economy where everyone has the right to make money, to buy things that they can afford and as such not buy things they cannot afford.

40% plus of our state taxes go into that vast black hole called “Social Programs”. What programs? How many of these programs are charities that I and other taxpayers would not contribute to? What right does the government have to steal money from working people to fund charities they don't support? Add to that the punitive taxes put on gasoline, heating oil, cigarettes, liquor, all the “evil” things do-gooders want us to stop using or using as much of as we do. They don't have the courage to outlaw these items so they just tax them excessively as to limit their use.

Are these “Social Program” taxes legal according to the U.S. Constitution? Is it legal to steal money from people to support charities they don't believe in or support? Franklin Pierce (14thPresident) didn't believe so when he vetoed a bill with charitable purposes and the veto stood. It is the government's job to provide for (not promote) the “general welfare” of the people which is police, fire, education, roads, etc.. It has now been expanded to include food, shelter and clothing which at this time are needed. But are cell phones? And now expanded to charities in apparent violation of the constitution? Why? I think it is time this is looked into.

Let's now look at the punitive taxes. Penalty vs. tax. What right does the government state or federal have to penalize people for legal activities? I don't believe they have that right. Either make that activity illegal or treat it as all other legal activities with the same tax requirements. Which brings to mind the question, if they achieve their goal and end or severely reduce the use of these items where will the tax money come from to replace this money.

I believe these are valid questions and we the taxpayers of CT deserve answers from our tax and spend democratic controlled legislature and governor who give no thought to how it affects the workers who earned the money to provide the best for their family.

Taxpayer Grants

To paraphrase an old movie 'what we have here is a failure to communicate accurately'. Politicians, do-gooders and control freaks all want to slant things their way. Hence the reason for political correctness because it is just another way to hide or confuse the truth.

For generations Americans have been fooled, deluded and hoodwinked by our elected public servants through the use of their terminologies. One that comes immediately to mind is federal, state or local grant. These are usually used to fund projects that most taxpayers would object to supporting normally as useless wastes of money such as busways to nowhere, studying the way leaves fall from trees things of that nature. Wake up taxpayers there is no such thing as a federally, state or locally funded grant! There is only our tax money used to fund these useless projects under the euphemism of “grant”. I saw the pie chart on where our CT tax dollars are spent and started wondering how much of our tax dollars are spent under the guise of state grants for projects that otherwise wouldn't have been done because of their uselessness?

Connecticut is in the midst of a financial crisis and while financial transparency should be the rule of law for the state right now it is paramount that we the taxpayers know where every dollar they are taking from us is used. It should all be laid out in plain nonpolitical speech so that every taxpayer can understand and then all grants should be put to a popular vote at election time.

It is time that the elected public servants,their appointees and the state workers become completely accountable to the taxpayers of the state.

Also let's start calling the grants their correct name “Taxpayer Grants”.