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And have you seen those gaudy uniforms that the Nike owner gives them with the webs on the shoulders and hips?  Wouldn't you just love to get in that dressing room and mismatch all fifteen or so sets he has so generously provided his alma mater? I actually fantasize about it sometimes when I have to turn the color down on my television to protect my eyes!!
Then we have the Oregon State Beavers! Beavers? Another bright idea from some overly zealous if not too bright Oregonian!  I didn't give those names to their university teams, so don't blame me!
But I digress! Now, I actually have a legitimate reason to hate Oregon that has absolutely nothing to do with football. It seems back in 1919 that some fellow in the legislature--probably the same guy who came up with the "Beaver" idea--decided it would be a great plan to start taxing gasoline!! Thank you, Oregon!
It's only a penny, and it's only one state, but you know where things went from there.
New York City started collecting registration fees on those new-fangled motor vehicles in 1901, and the state of Missouri took that road two years later. By 1914, every state collected registration fees (.pdf), and approximately 90 percent of the dough was going to build roads. Still, horseless carriages had a greater need for pavement than horses hauling carriages, and the long-distance capabilities of automobiles and trucks suggested a network of well-built intercity highways to rival the railroads. In Oregon, the state highway commission (created in 1913) started a "Get Oregon Out of the Mud" campaign for better roads in 1917.
Republican state legislator Loyal Graham , sponsored the measure that made Oregon the first state in the nation to make road users pay at the pump to build and maintain those roads. Early projects included the Pacific Highway from the Washington state line to California and the Columbia River Highway along that mighty river.
The first gasoline tax was one cent a gallon (12 cents in today's money). Gasoline in those days sold for about 25 cents a gallon, which would be a bit more than $3 these days.
Here's something interesting. Gasoline was STILL selling for 25 cents a gallon until the 70's when the wonderful United States government created its artificial gas shortage to drive up the price to 50 cents a gallon. Then suddenly we had plenty of gasoline again.
Colorado and New Mexico followed Oregon within six weeks imposing their own per-gallon taxes. North Dakota followed later in the year. When New York finally joined the procession 10 years later, all 48 states had imposed taxes of 1, 2 or 3 cents per gallon. The federal government levied its first gasoline tax in 1932: a penny a gallon (15 cents today).
Ninety years after its inception, the Oregon gasoline tax is 25 cents imposed by the state, with up to 8 cents more in city and county taxes, and 18.4 cents for the feds. That could add up to 51.4 cents, depending on where you buy. The U.S. average is 45 cents a gallon, including the federal levy.
Oregon is still a leader in new ways to tax vehicle use. It ran a 300-car pilot program from 2006 to 2007 to test the idea of equipping all new vehicles with GPS and then taxing them by miles driven. The idea has also been bandied about in Washington state, Idaho, Colorado, Texas, Minnesota, Florida, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and — until President Obama nixed it last Friday — the federal government.
The
future will undoubtedly be interesting.
The good stuff provided by https://www.wired.com/rss/index.xml I'll take credit for the bad jokes!!
