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HomeTaxesIncrease Federal Taxation on Gas? What the Hell!

Increase Federal Taxation on Gas? What the Hell!

This is not so much a personal finance post but rather a rant about those ridiculous people in Washington which will eventually affect every reader’s wallet.  I am not sure where I heard it first but it seems that some smart people in Washington think nowis the time to increase the federally imposed tax on each gallon of gas that American’s pay.   Two articles which highlight this increase can be found HERE and HERE.

As stated by MSNBC (the first link),

Motorists are driving less and buying less gasoline, which means fuel taxes aren’t raising enough money to keep pace with the cost of road, bridge and transit programs.

The dilemma for Congress is that highway and transit programs are dependent for revenue on fuel taxes that are not sustainable. Many Americans are driving less and switching to more fuel-efficient cars and trucks, and a shift to new fuels and technologies like plug-in hybrid electric cars will further erode gasoline sales.

As indicated by CNBC (the second link),

A 50 percent increase in gasoline and diesel fuel taxes is being urged by the commission to finance highway construction and repair until the government devises another way for motorists to pay for using public roads.

The National Commission on Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing, a 15-member panel created by Congress, is the second group in a year to call for increasing the current 18.4 cents a gallon federal tax on gasoline and the 24.4 cents a gallon tax on diesel. State fuel taxes vary from state to state.

Does this humble blogger understand fully? We, as Americans, do what we were supposed to and consumed less gasoline and bought more efficient cars – so now the jackasses want to increase the cost of consumption?

Alright so lets talk simple economics, if the price today goes from $1.80ish to $2.20ish, what is the likely result? Less consumption, i.e. even less taxes received.  As you can tell from my language This sort of asinine tax planning boils my blood!

Instead of just raising taxes, why doesn’t someone audit those constructions jobs which rely on this money? How many people have driven by a work site and saw the workers just hanging out?  This sort of this taxation without thinking about the aftermath infuriates me!

Any opinions?

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3 COMMENTS

  1. I would be surprised if this goes through. Nothing is as unpopular as a tax hike, and the administration has more important things to try and get done without lowering their approval ratings with this action. And besides, deficits has never stopped the government from spending before.

    But maybe this is just wishful thinking.

  2. Dan,

    I am not saying the gov’t shouldn’t spending during a deficit…although you may be on to something, all depends which economist (not talking head on CNN) you want to follow.

    Rather, I am trying to point out the waste that is in gov’t, where are the auditors? Probably hanging out drinking with the same auditors in charge of checking up on Madoff

    My Journey’s last blog post..Goals for 2009 – Not Resolutions

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