Tag: revenue generation

‘On the Table’ – Pete Buttigieg Says Gasoline Tax Hike Possible

A hike in the tax on gasoline is one possible revenue burden facing American motorists, President Joe Biden’s secretary of transportation nominee Pete Buttigieg told a Senate panel on Thursday.

The revelation came after former South Bend (Indiana) Mayor Pete Buttigieg was asked by Republican Sen. Rick Scott of Florida during his confirmation hearing about possible tax hikes.

“I think all options need to be on the table,” Buttigieg said, according to Roll Call.

“As you know, the gas tax has not been increased since 1993, and it’s never been pegged to inflation, and that is one of the reasons why the current state of the Highway Trust Fund is that there’s more going out than coming in.”

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What’s Worse Than Pumpkin Spice? Cops Pulling People Over To Give Them Gift Cards

The coronavirus pandemic has changed a lot about the Christmas season. Travel plans have been cancelled. Family gatherings have been reduced in size and scope. There won’t be nearly as many dinners at fancy restaurants.

But one terrible tradition persists. Police pulling people over as though they had committed some sort of traffic infraction, then giving them a gift instead.

This week WACH, a Fox affiliate in South Carolina, reports that deputies in Richland County are turning on the lights and sirens, pulling people over, and then giving them gift cards to Outback Steakhouse rather than citations or warnings. It is presented, as usual, as an uplifting story for the holiday season. A WACH reporter joined the cops and got happy interviews from people who thought they were getting tickets. The sheriff’s department then gets to give itself the gift of a pat on the back for handing out free bloomin’ onions to people instead of disrupting their lives and saddling them with fines.

This anxiety-inducing crap should not be rewarded with fawning press coverage. The police are abusing citizens’ Fourth Amendment rights. Cops cannot simply pull people over with no suspicion of infractions, even to give them gifts.

Reason has criticized this behavior repeatedly. As Jacob Sullum noted back in 2016, these “supposedly heartwarming interactions are still abuses of power. If police would not have stopped drivers for these minor violations unless they had gifts to hand out, they are deliberately inconveniencing people and causing them needless anxiety for the sake of a publicity stunt.”

WACH reports that the deputies pulled people over for speeding before giving them the gift cards, which if true might suggest that the sheriff’s department is trying to avoid Fourth Amendment concerns by selecting people they would already have been stopping. But WACH’s footage also shows deputies giving a gift card to a man on horseback walking along the side of a road, so I’m not so sure about that.

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For the First Time in US, City Proposes Ending Police Enforcement of Traffic Laws

In what is being touted as a first in the nation proposal, the City of Berkeley, California has proposed ending police traffic enforcement. The effects of such a radical shift in policing could be massive.

The move comes after claims that police officers all too often escalate minor traffic stops into deadly situations. These claims are well founded.

“Most traffic stops don’t really warrant a police officer,” said Darrell Owens, the co-executive of East Bay for Everyone, a housing and traffic non-profit. He helped pitch the new, one-year plan to Berkeley City Council. According to ABC 7, he says ideally the city would take money away from Berkeley PD to fund a new department.

“A minor traffic violation should not have resulted in the murder of a black or brown body, but at the same time we can also re-examine the nature of punitive law enforcement and broken windows policing that makes traffic enforcement so deadly to begin with.”

The officials who proposed ending police traffic enforcement dispelled any preconceived notions that this would allow dangerous criminals and drunks to rule the roads.

“We don’t want to inhibit apprehending dangerous criminals or drunk drivers. That is not the intent,” said Berkeley City councilmember, Lori Droste.

Though it is a step in the right direction, because government relies on revenue generated from traffic stops to fund itself, this proposal stops short of actually ending the practice of extorting citizens.

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Cop Rips Woman’s Hair from Her Scalp Over Broken ‘Third Brake Light’ That Was WORKING

Shynita Phillips Abu was “jamming to music” in her car after a trip to a post office earlier this month when a San Diego County Sheriff’s deputy targeted her for extortion. His reason for pulling her over and eventually assaulting her? He claimed her “third brake light” was out.

In the land of the free, petty traffic violations like third brake light bulbs can and will lead to innocent people being assaulted and kidnapped. While it is technically an infraction if your third brake light bulb is out, according to Abu, when she picked her car up from the impound lot after the deputy took it, the light was actually working.

Abu has since filed a complaint against the department alleging excessive force. The department is now investigating.

According to Abu, who filmed the interaction, the officer became belligerent during the stop when she disputed the reason for the stop. Abu says the officer apparently didn’t like the fact that she was filming the arrest which made him angry.

“He started to yell ‘put the phone down now,’” she said. “And at that point, I became afraid”

For a simple traffic ticket, the officer proceeded to escalate force and is seen on video dragging the woman from her car. He allegedly pulled on her with so much force that her hair was ripped from her scalp.

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