So I’m watching the nightly network news and there is a piece how the federal deficit reduction commission has proposed raising the gas tax by 15 cents a gallon. Their justification is that right now we spend 38 billion/year on our roads, but the gas tax only covers 30 billion with Congress making up the 8 billion.
I thought it was a good piece giving lots of good information such as when the gas tax came in the 1950s, we drove gas guzzlers and now, people drive more fuel efficient vehicles and tack on less miles now because of the economy, so it sounds, like government is going to once again punish us for doing good, which is driving less (In southern California, where I live, we were asked to conserve on water, which we did, but because we did such a good job, the water districts are raising rates to pay for the money they didn’t bring in because we used less as they had asked for).
I don’t have a problem with government cost recovery. If we use something, we should pay for it. I do have problems with government raiding one fund to balance their deficit (Something California is known for). I also believe that we have a deficit problem, but how do we fix it? I don’t think it’s smart to raise taxes when the economy is in a slump. Wait till things are going good first.
Getting my calculator out, if my figures are correct, my family would pay about $170/year more for fuel. That might sound minor, but money is already tight. We would have to cut back elsewhere, which means less money for the economy. How many others would be forced to cut their expenses and wouldn’t those numbers add up and impact the economy even more?
Raising any kind of taxes during bad economic times doesn’t make sense. What would make more sense is if we became intelligent voters and would vote in fiscal conservatives that would actually practice what they preach. We need real leadership to handle deficit spending at all levels.
I’m now off my soap box.
I thought it was a good piece giving lots of good information such as when the gas tax came in the 1950s, we drove gas guzzlers and now, people drive more fuel efficient vehicles and tack on less miles now because of the economy, so it sounds, like government is going to once again punish us for doing good, which is driving less (In southern California, where I live, we were asked to conserve on water, which we did, but because we did such a good job, the water districts are raising rates to pay for the money they didn’t bring in because we used less as they had asked for).
I don’t have a problem with government cost recovery. If we use something, we should pay for it. I do have problems with government raiding one fund to balance their deficit (Something California is known for). I also believe that we have a deficit problem, but how do we fix it? I don’t think it’s smart to raise taxes when the economy is in a slump. Wait till things are going good first.
Getting my calculator out, if my figures are correct, my family would pay about $170/year more for fuel. That might sound minor, but money is already tight. We would have to cut back elsewhere, which means less money for the economy. How many others would be forced to cut their expenses and wouldn’t those numbers add up and impact the economy even more?
Raising any kind of taxes during bad economic times doesn’t make sense. What would make more sense is if we became intelligent voters and would vote in fiscal conservatives that would actually practice what they preach. We need real leadership to handle deficit spending at all levels.
I’m now off my soap box.
