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Posted on 01/12/2015 6:12:00 AM PST by bestintxas
Suddenly everyone in Washington wants a gas tax hike — apparently so that consumers don’t save too much money at the pump. As prices keep falling, the politicians and the moochers in Washington want a piece of the action.
Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California, Sen. Richard Durbin of Illinois and even Republicans such as Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee have linked arms with the entire road-building industry and green groups that want the cost of fuel to go up.Mrs. Pelosi won’t even hide her cynical motivation: With gas prices low, maybe motorists won’t notice that we’re gouging them: “If there’s ever going to be an opportunity to raise the gas tax, the time when gas prices are so low — oil prices are so low — is the time to do it,” she explained. That’s rich coming from Mrs. Pelosi who has done everything she can to stop the shale oil and gas revolution that made prices fall in the first place.
Apparently, if OPEC can’t keep prices high, the feds will. These are the folks who say they want to help the middle class. Every penny rise in the gas tax will take about $1 billion out of the wallets of consumers. A 10- or 20-cent gas tax will take $10-$20 billion from consumers.
The politicians like to point to studies by the road-builders and civil engineers who insist that America’s infrastructure is crumbling and that we must spend hundreds of billions of dollars to fix our roads, highways, bridges and airports. Now there’s an impartial jury. Who do you think is going to get all this money?
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
John Boehner lies to us on his intentions. He needs to go.
No Republican congress will increase the tax on gas.
Here’s a novel idea. Instead of increasing taxes, how about cutting spending? How about prioritizing the spending so that roads get paved and bridges get fixed rather than half the money going to public transportation, road signs and expensive electronic billboards and traffic monitoring systems? Highway spending and the gas tax is one of the most textbook examples of Washington bait and switch — tell people you have to raise the tax to fix “crumbling” highways, then spend the money on nonsense “green” transportation projects.
This happens every election. Republicans take control and suddenly the MSM is talking about tax increases and more gun laws.
Of course that extra tax will be eliminated when prices rise, right? /s
“No Republican congress will increase the tax on gas.”
Baloney. There are subtle ways to accomplish this, like making it a % rather than $ per gallon.
Republicans can then claim they did not raise gas taxes.
The problem isn’t gas-guzzlers on the road, it’s tax-guzzlers in Washington.
I’ll bet you $5 (payable as a donation to FR) that the “republican” congress increases the taxes on gas before the next election.
If the GOPe raises taxes I will be so done with them. Not one more thin dime for them from me. And I would support the TEA party if it goes 3rd party. If they could just get a few seats in either chamber it might be enough to play one group of progressives off against the other and bring reason to our government.
The Tax Meisters have been waiting for the prices to drop since Bush left office so they could tack on extra burdens. Now they have their chance.
Soon to be ex-Governor of PA, Corbett, did. Jerk.
Or taxing crude more, and letting the impact ripple through ALL petroleum products from pharmaceuticals to fertilizers to plastics to lubricants, oh, and gasoline, too..
It's not congress' fault, it's the asphalt!
Reagan's favorite democrat (then Gov. Ed King) got the solons back into session pretty quick to put a floor on the tax.
Obola's buddy, just now former Gov. Coupe Deval Patrick, worked with the MA legislature to apply the sales tax to beer, with was already excised taxed at the wholesale level. IOW, a tax on a tax. And I think they conspired to have the gas tax to increase automatically. Initiative petitions were able to roll back each, iirc.
The meme-building on this began a week or two ago. The federal gasoline tax in the 1990s was 53 cents a gallon, if memory serves, now (supposedly) it’s 18 cents a gallon.
We should also make better use of tolling to pay for roads. Tolls are the most efficient form of user pays, and Uber-type technologies make tolling highly efficient in terms of adjusting prices during peak hours to reduce congestion.
This is a good idea in terms of economic principles, but a very bad idea in terms of liberty. I don't want my government or any private party tracking my every move. I am deeply disappointed that Steven Moore doesn't get it about this threat. He should know better.
Then you should be actively against any politician who is not actively against the NSA and it's domestic espionage program.
(And possibly the CIA and IRS as well.)
It was never that high -
Yep and the Republican Party led by the neuteriized and compromise John Boehner and Mitch McConnell will lead the charge for carbon taxes.
John Boehner band Mitch McConnell will do everything possible in congress to push the Administration’s far radical leftist agenda through.
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