Bill in Congress to increase Senior park pass to $80

wa8yxm wrote:

agesilaus wrote:
If the NPS would stop wasting the money that they do have $2,500,000,000 a year they would be a lot more successful. They need to stop buying more land and concentrate on the properties that they already own: waste

First: where as the 10 dollars went to the park, the 80 dollar fee will go to some "Trust Fund" which Congress can raid like they do the Social Security trust (Congress currently owes we the people over two TRILLION dollars) so your post missed the target on the reason for the increase.

Second: I see a lot of folks saying "80 dollars is not too bad" but recall WE THE PEOPLE who qualify for that pass have been paying for the Parks every April 15th for what..... over 40 years (you have to be 62 to get the 10 dollar pass) we have paid our dues, 10 bucks pays the processing cost.. Pays for the card.. and is a reasonable "Gift" to our seniors who have paid taxes all their life....

Now I got mine, so I don't need to fight this bill,,, but well, a cash grab is a cash grab and that is what is happening here. a cash grab.

You can call it whatever you like but it's still a fact that the national parks system is underfunded for what people expect from them. A great deal of funding for capital improvements comes from non-profit organizations like the National Parks Foundation. If your taxes had been enough to support them, those funds would not (and in my opinion, should not) be needed.

I agree with you that revenues taken in by and/or earmarked for the National Parks should not be viewed as a source of ready cash for other uses until the parks system is sufficiently well funded to be able to support itself.