Leave The Gas Tax Alone

Over the past few months, as fuel prices have skyrocketed, there as been talk, especially among presidential candidates, of lowering or (temporarily) abolishing fuel taxes. One of the more popular ideas has been a "summer break" from fuel taxes.

According to an article in yesterday's paper, however, this talk has been mostly silenced, and replaced by the idea of raising fuel taxes. This new idea is being "quietly" discussed in congress (sounds a little like pay increase that Pennsylvania lawmakers voted themselves in the not so distant past) especially among those who have constituents who would profit from additional road construction.

At this time I feel that both of the above are bad ideas. Lowering or temporarily eliminating the tax would be bad because the money is need for road repair. And oil companies would probably just raise the prices back to where they were before the tax reduction anyway. Raising the tax is an even worse idea given the current economic situation. The consumer, the very engine that is supposed to be driving this economy, is already being suffocated by massive increases in the cost of necessities such as food and fuel. The higher tax would further increase the cost of fuel, which would, in turn, cause even higher prices for everything else. This would just strengthen the economic choke hold on the consumer and would ultimately not benefit anyone. So the best thing to do right now is to not change fuel taxes at all.


So Sayeth The Shack