WisDOT Begins Sky-Is-Falling Campaign For New Road Taxes Or Fees

Oh, woe is us - - and to you - - says WisDOT: there's not enough money to keep the Zoo Interchange and other projects on track.

Delays are threatened.

Think of the congestion!

This is the beginning of the road-builder lobby's PR campaign for higher gas taxes, or new tolls, or boosted registration fees - - the strategic equivalent at the local level from time to time of talk about closing fire stations or swimming pools if local taxes aren't raised.

It's the only alternative!

The road-builders and their friends in the Legislature and the Walker administration probably voted for Romney and wrote checks to the Cut Taxes Stop Spending SuperPAC, but see merit and personal gain in raising our taxes so they can spend more on bigger highways in Wisconsin.

Or look at it this way:

Waiter: Your credit card is declining the charges.

Customer: Ask the other customers to chip in. They have before.

Soon the road-builder PR campaign won't be asking questions like, "do you support a gas tax increase," or "do you support road tolls?"

The questions will be "Would you prefer five more cents on the gas tax or $50 on the vehicle registration fee?," or "Which toll is best for using an express lane when it's completed: $2, $3, $4 or more?"