We NEED to get rid of ALL government-use-but-taxpayer-charged vehicles....
By mommyboo
@mommyboo (13174)
United States
April 29, 2011 12:43pm CST
Have you seen those white hybrid priuses all over town bearing the gov plates or 'official gov business' wording on the doors? Apparently Los Angeles county has thousands of them and thousands of government workers are checking them out and ABUSING the usage by driving them for personal use, taking spouses and friends to work and school, going to lunch, keeping the car overnight and weekends - and guess what? THEY USE TAXPAYER MONEY to put gas in it!
I just saw an expose on the news regarding this last night, and the idea of just 'cutting 400 vehicles' is pathetic. I do not believe government employees deserve the use of ANY government vehicles. Use your own damn car. If you're SO BROKE, then your direct employer can decide if they want to reimburse you 15 cents per mile that you have to drive FOR OFFICIAL ON THE CLOCK GOVERNMENT BUSINESS ONLY. If you are caught fibbing or lying or finagling documentation to cover misuse, you should get ONE warning and after that be fired from your position.
There is NO acceptable or applicable reason whatsoever for the government to even have bought nor maintain a 'government vehicle pool' UNLESS that direct branch or company purchased and maintains it with their OWN PERSONAL FUNDS, NOT TAXPAYER MONEY. If they want to allow their employees use of such cars, they should be completely responsible for servicing them, providing the gas - or asking employees to pay for whatever they use, NOT TAXPAYERS. I don't know about you but *I* don't believe I should ever have to pay for some stranger's car ride or gas, especially if that person is not directly doing anything to benefit me and probably never will. More than likely they are just misusing and wasting resources that don't even BELONG to them.
I hope you are all aware how serious this is. We are ALL having to pay into this through our taxes - right now we have no choice. We need to find a way to get them to do away with such an unnecessary and wasteful misuse and abuse of resources that is being paid for by OUR pocketbooks!!
1 person likes this
5 responses
@coffeebreak (17797)
• United States
30 Apr 11
I"ve been saying this for a long time...all the government people clear to the top...all get state paid cars, gas, expense reports....and we tax payers pay it all! Yearly license and registration, maintenance..we pay it all for them. And yo know how they missuse expense reports...I have been saying that if they cut this out...make them all pay for their own transportation and related expenses and take away expense reports....we'd be close to getting out of the red! It is all so unfair as we pay for ours AND theirs. Also...no "bill" is ever introduced to lower governments salaries, the senators, congressmen etc...they get a raise every year, never are they given pink slips or talk of down-sizing or lay offs. Disgusting... is the only word I have for it.
1 person likes this
@coffeebreak (17797)
• United States
11 May 11
Fed taxes are supposed to be for wars AND infrastructure maintenance and repair! The damns and bridges are literally falling apart in this country. The levees and sewer systems nad such are all falling apart....but Obama give $3.2BILLION to Pakistan! Mississippi river is flooding the area and devistating that area....ending with NewOrleans where they still have not been able to recover from Katrina due to lack of money...but Obama gives $3 BiLLION to Brazil to assist them in their oil drilling. That is why we have to have higher taxes...first to pay the bigwigs in the government and when that is gone, there is nothing left...so we have to come up with more!
1 person likes this
@mommyboo (13174)
• United States
11 May 11
I keep saying this too! WHY are we sending money and resources OUTSIDE of our country?? WHY?? We should ONLY use our money and resources INSIDE our country. Exporting everything is WHY we are having economic crisis right now. I keep saying - who cares whether we take care of and educate people who are not supposed to be here? TAKE CARE OF AMERICANS FIRST. Once ALL Americans have jobs and homes and health benefits, and ALL Americans are literate and educated, and ALL Americans have safe places to live and socialize, THEN and only then should we look outside of that and do anything for all those other people who are not now nor have ever done anything for us....
I'm sorry. I'm not humanitarian enough to think we have to take care of EVERYBODY to the detriment of ourselves, our country, our culture, and our lives!
@mommyboo (13174)
• United States
11 May 11
Absolutely disgusting! I think it is ridiculous how they manage to pink slip TEACHERS yet they won't downsize their own group of unnecessaries. I truly feel that none of us should ever pay taxes because we are not financing a war - and that is the only reason taxes were instituted to begin with - in oh.... 1930something. It's a long way from 1930something, people. We need to do something else. Either government doesn't deserve to be paid AT ALL or they need to find another FAIR source of income because taking money from the people they are NOT serving is NOT the way to do it.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
3 May 11
What I think should be done in these kinds of situations is that government vehicles should only be used during the day for official business. I know for a fact that police vehicles in the city that I live in are used for personal use because when I was growing up my best friend's father was a police officer. He would always take us to our extracurricular activities in his police truck (he was a mounted officer so he had to have a truck so that he could haul the trailer with his horse). Though I did think it was cool that we got to ride in a real police vehicle, in retrospect I don't think that it was acceptible.
1 person likes this
@mommyboo (13174)
• United States
11 May 11
Wow! I see so many police cars that are clearly being used for personal reasons - especially the ones who put on their lights to get thru red light intersections - they turn them on about a block away and get the light to change so they can keep going and not stop. I'm not saying they turn on sirens or noise, they don't, they just flash so the lights change and they don't have to slow down. Of course this makes most of the drivers on the road pull over or stop to get away from them, which seems to perpetuate them continuing to do this.... wherever they go.
I'm not against having company vehicles if they are necessary, such as police cars, ambulances, vehicles someone may drive if they transport prisoners or for social work reasons - but I think those vehicles must be paid for and maintained PRIVATELY, via the company and/or owner and never via taxpayer money.
@bobmnu (8157)
• United States
29 Apr 11
I know many business that charge their employees a flat fee each month for personal use of companie cars. Maybe the government should do what many businesses do and that is to eithr pay mileage (documented) of pay a flat fee reguardless of how many miles you drive. I know many Secetraries get a flat fee because they have to drive money to the bank and pick up the mail, usually just a few miles and it is easier to do it that way.
Many salesmen I know who have a company car have a stripped down model.
1 person likes this
@mommyboo (13174)
• United States
11 May 11
I think it's fine for a company to purchase and maintain and allow employees to USE a company car, what I DON'T think is feasible at ALL is for government based employers who receive some, most, or ALL of their funding from TAXPAYERS in order to run and pay their employees to use taxpayer money to purchase and maintain these cars. If the money for the car(s) and/or maintenance AND gas is coming out of the pocket of the EMPLOYER and NOT taxpayer funds, then it's a totally allowable and reasonable choice for any employer. However, I don't want ANY of my tax dollars wasted on some employee who doesn't deserve their job and wastes resources anyway - as proven by the expose the news did on use of these cars and the cost to the general public - even without the abuses they discovered.
@matersfish (6306)
• United States
29 Apr 11
We NEED to get rid of ALL government - full stop.
All government does is waste. We're supposed to be grateful, I guess, that some people benefit somewhere while they continue to drive the entire country into ruin to hold power and pad their pockets.
If there's a politician somewhere who has ever completed an honest day's work in office, I'd love to know about it.
They're probably told to drive the cars whenever possible. Promote hybrids! 
1 person likes this
@mommyboo (13174)
• United States
11 May 11
LOL! I see plenty of Priuses around anyway, some places more than others. I even have two friends who drive them because - ta da - they decided to BUY ONE. Granted it's not like they just decided out of the blue to plop down 20K or whatever to just buy a hybrid, it was a necessary replacement due to an accident and a van that was beginning to cost more to maintain than it was worth to make the payments on lol.
I truly believe that government people ought to either work for free - do those jobs in addition to a normal job - OR be paid only around minimum wage in taxpayer dollars - with any additional money being actually EARNED based on their performance, kind of like when you tip a waitress or service person for good service. If I receive mediocre or lousy service, I am not going to tip much, maybe 10% if the food was good and the atmosphere minus the demeanor of the waitress or service person. However! If they go above and beyond my expectations - which would be like a government employee actually following through on a promise they made to the people AFTER the people TOLD them that's what they wanted? Well that would be literal cause for a celebration and it would not be wrong in that case to give them some sort of 'bonus' for a job well done. What I bristle at currently is that we are rewarding these jerks for waste and fraud and it continues!!
