April 21, 2008
01:39 pm
I guess this appeals to the few die-hard nuts still voting Republican
So, John McCain's brilliant idea: suspend Federal gas taxes for the summer.
Seriously, does anyone think this is a good idea -- or that it will help anyone?
Let's see. The Federal gas tax is 18¢ per gallon. He wants to suspend that from Memorial Day through Labor Day, a period of three months.
Now, let's rip it apart.
This kind of fiscal aptitude makes George W. Bush look like a whiz kid.
So, John McCain's brilliant idea: suspend Federal gas taxes for the summer.
Seriously, does anyone think this is a good idea -- or that it will help anyone?
Let's see. The Federal gas tax is 18¢ per gallon. He wants to suspend that from Memorial Day through Labor Day, a period of three months.
Now, let's rip it apart.
- Let's say I have a typical car, it gets 25 miles per gallon and I fill it up once a week. At $3.90 a gallon for 10 gallons, I pay $39. For three months, I'd only pay $37.20. Whoa! I'm swimming in savings!
- Of course, gas prices won't be going down during those three summer months. So the odds are that I'd be paying more than $3.90 a gallon by that time anyway.
- McCain claims that there will be enormous economic stimulus with this tax suspension. Does he really think that I'm going to take my $1.80 in savings and plow it back into, say, housing? And does he really believe that in the space of three months the costs of food and other commodities affected by gas prices will readjust downward?
- The cost of this boondoggle would be something on the order of $9-10 billion. Gosh, for a man who wants to stay in Iraq for a hundred years, he's forgotten that those kinds of occupations cost lots of money.
- In an era where bridges are falling down, he wants to take $9 billion out of the funding for infrastructure?
- et cetera.
This kind of fiscal aptitude makes George W. Bush look like a whiz kid.
There's more to this than one's own personal situation- As one who sees the bottom line of OTR transportation, trust me- we are salivating at this idea, even as short term as it is, which really speaks even more about it.
Posted by The Amazing Kirk a Go-Go on 04/21 at 06:56 PM
Yes, this makes sense... but tell me: are you going to drop your retail prices because you save 18¢ a gallon for three months? The cost of gas will still likely be more than it is now, even with that 18¢ discount.
Will it really make any difference at all in the end?
Will it really make any difference at all in the end?
Posted by Gene on 04/22 at 08:23 AM
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