http://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/counties/wake-county/article134334079.html Lets do some math Existing fee: $5 New Fee: $8 Wake County imposed soon to be county fee: $7 .5% sales tax: $$$ 5% rental car tax: $$$ Im glad I dont live in Wake.
I just priced renting a full size van for a week. cost of van was about $400. Total with taxes and fess about $750. WOW!
I want to say Ive seen suggestions not to rent from an airport as theres always "airport fees". The tradeoff is selection as airport lots have a bigger set of cars. That said, if you really want something, and can reserve long enough in advance, they can normally get it at a local lot.
I was a little low on weekly cost, and a little high on all in price. Still $176 in taxes and fees are crazy. (37%) Fullsize Van Ford Transit or similar Passengers 12 Luggage Capacity 2 0 to 4 doors 0/4 Air Conditioning Air Conditioning Automatic transmission Automatic transmission 1050 free miles per week 1050 free miles per week $0.25 extra per mile Fuel info: Full to full $472 per week $648 total Total includes taxes and fees
Assuming you had 12 people, that would be $54/week per person. If you had your own car that got 35 mpg and gas was an average of $2/gal, that same 1050 miles would cost about $60/week. Seems like a lot of a hassle to get 12 people together on the same schedule just to save $200/year. If you could carpool with one other person in that 35 mpg car, then you would only be at $30/week per person.
I suppose they could always build a bunch of new roads and increase taxes across the state. The fees are intended to increase mass transit to reduce traffic congestion in lieu of building more and more and more roads. You gotta pay to play, I guess. Although, you're talking about and increase of $3 per year, right. I think the average citizen could spare one trip to McDonalds for the benefit of mass transit, which usually accompanies a city of a certain size, because...well, because too many people.
To be clear, I agree 3 dollars is not going to kill someone. But with 4 lines of taxes and some, that will kill a person.
If I remember correctly, and I may not, they sold this plan to the voters who approved it in Wake county as it being payed for by the sales tax increase, which they told them would be payed by people outside the county when they came in for shopping, dining etc. There is probably some voters who are not happy with this final plan for financing this.
I vaguely remember reading somewhere a few years back, that they would need to at least double the price of bus fares on Triangle Transit in order to break even. So instead the tax payers in the county pay the difference, even if they don't ever take the bus.
see my follow up post. i was off a bit in both directions, but still a large increase over price of van.
People who don't have children still pay their share of taxes that go towards public education. I am happy to do that, because I think it is important to not have dumb kids in society. The same could be argued for mass transit. You're paying your share of the taxes to keep that many more cars off the road, reduce impact on roadways and provide a reliable method of transportation for low income families to get to work, school, etc.. The alternative (albeit exaggerated) is that they stay home, jobless and sponge off welfare while they use drugs and burglarize people to pay for their next score thus continuing the spiral of urban and societal decay. You can't have it both ways. You can't complain about traffic and all the other things wrong with our little corner of the world and also not chip in to help fix the problem. I'm doing well right now and I am happy to pay up. If this changes and I need to use it, I hope the bus is there for me.