Here's a creative idea for raising revenues that doesn't involve additional taxes:
States and cities have a new way to raise money: "For Sale" tags on the Interstate Highway system. On Sept. 28, Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels announced plans to put 157 miles of I-90 up for bids. Daniels also wants to invite private outfits to help build and operate a 142-mile extension of I-69 as a toll road.
Meantime, governors of New Jersey and Delaware are urging lawmakers to privatize nearly 400 miles of combined tollways, including some stretches of I-95. The first experiment in a privately owned Interstate shows bright promise: At the start of the year, a Spanish-Australian joint venture paid $1.83 billion for the Chicago Skyway, a 7.8-mile stretch of I-90. The deal took a money-losing toll road off the city's hands, filled a budget deficit, and endowed a rainy-day fund.
Now I have to restrain myself a bit here since I'm a natural huckster and could see my company's logo plastered over all sorts of publicly-owned water towers, roads, bridges, parks, and on and on. And none of us wants our country to be plastered with logos and ads all over God's (and man's) creation. However, if done with reason and taste (I know, the government rarely has either of these), it could be an acceptable form of additional revenue. And it may be a better alternative than the current proposed changes to the income tax system.
If this idea doesn't work, my other brilliant scheme is for the federal government to force the NCAA to have a college football playoff to determine a true national champion and confiscate the funds that would be generated from TV rights, corporate sponsorships, ticket sales, and the like. It could probably wipe out half of the current budget deficit. ;-)
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