Posted on 09/02/2005 9:27:15 AM PDT by Thanatos
Georgia governor plans to lift state gas tax for rest of the month
Eds: Moving on general news and financial services.
By DICK PETTYS Associated Press Writer
ATLANTA (AP) -- Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue said he will sign an executive order Friday that will exempt consumers from state motor fuel taxes through the end of September to "relieve some of the financial burden" in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
The order will remove the 7.5-cents-a-gallon tax and a 4 percent sales tax on gas, the governor said, and was set to begin at midnight.
The move comes as gasoline in some parts of the country has risen well above $3 a gallon.
Maybe this'll help your cynicism just a little :-)
I live in Covington. Last night, gas at the Raceway was 3.15 for regular. Went back this am to fill up, and they had dropped price to 2.99.
Just one station, I know, but at least somebody apparently passed the savings on.
Still cost me $52 to fill up a little Ranger though. :-(
The prices hurt, but the real problem is supply. Cutting a few cents helps psychologically, but any significant cut in price just compounds the real problem. Unless people control their consumption as the President requested, the price will jump back up due to the demand.
The biggest impact from the government getting out of the equation is not removing taxes, not opening up the SPR, but the suspension of the multitude of blends of gasoline that need to be created.
I would think you would get immediate calls for price gauging if they did.
"I would think you would get immediate calls for price gauging if they did."
I agree. But I think there's quite a bit of price gouging going on anyway about which nothing is ever really done.
I'm not so sure about that.
Gasoline is a commodity that moves just like others. True that $3-4 per gallon is high in a historical context but the sharp move ups at the pump have been the effect of the move up in the gasoline futures.
The knee-jerk repsonse is that the big oil companies are profiting at the expense of the consumer but the real cause is not exploitive balance sheet growth, but simple supply and demand.
Funny thing is that most won't think twice about spending $5 on a cup of coffee but will balk at $3 a gallon for gas. Given the process to get the latter, when event like this take place, free market economics show their true colors. And as hard as that is to absorb (wallet wise), that's the beauty of this system.
All that being said, a tax on top of that is disgusting and I hope that when prices cool down, and they will, the politicians will realize that when things like this take place, placing more burden on top of the open market with foolish taxes is horrific.
Livin large in Suwanee, if thats possible. ;-)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.