Government logic

Remember last year? It has been a couple of days already, so I can understand if you have forgotten. Many people apparently already have. Remember when prices for gasoline in most places were well over $4/gallon and in places like the People's Republic of California prices were over $5? I recall filling my truck when it was empty would be $85-90 and our monster 15 passenger van would be over $100. But that has been months ago, so it is ancient history now. I can fill my Silverado for under $40, so out of sight is out of mind. Our driving habits have changed as a nation though, people bought a bunch of fuel efficient cars and have curtailed driving as much as possible.

Well since people are driving less and buying less gas, guess what? That means that Uncle Sam is sucking up less of our money in gasoline taxes. I guess the Federal Government will just have to spend less money...uh, no. If consumption goes down on something we get tax revenue from, the solution must be to raise taxes on that commodity (which drives down consumption, which requires higher taxes, and so on and so on...). From the Associated Press...

Motorists' habits spur call for tax increases

WASHINGTON – 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.

That has the federal commission that oversees financing for transportation talking about increasing the federal fuel tax.

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.

In a report expected in late January, members of the infrastructure financing commission say they will urge Congress to raise the gas tax by 10 cents a gallon and the diesel tax by 12 cents to 15 cents a gallon. At the same time, the commission will recommend tying the fuel tax rates to inflation.

The commission will also recommend that states raise their fuel taxes and make greater use of toll roads and fees for rush-hour driving.

Ladies and gentlemen, your federal government at work!

Isn't driving less and consuming less fossil fuels supposed to be the goal, isn't it supposed to be a good thing? You know, global warming and all. Ooops. When people drive less and use less fuel, the government has lower revenue and people keep that money in their pockets. We can't have that, how can we expect people to make sound decision with their own money? The fact that we are even having this conversation six months removed from crippling gas prices exposes just how myopic we are. If it doesn't hit my wallet in a way I can feel right now, it doesn't matter to me.

Once again, when the government tinkers in the free market it always spirals out of control because when an organization that is inherently inefficient is injected it a market that thrives on efficiency, something is going to break. What is really troubling is that so many people have completely forgotten the higher gas prices. Few people are calling for increased domestic exploration, drilling and refining. We are vulnerable to the same extreme price swings in gasoline but because today I don't pay as much for gas, yesterday is irrelevant to me. We should be drilling NOW, exploring NOW, building new refineries NOW, building more nuclear plant NOW while prices are low. If Obama is bound and determined to spend upwards of a trillion dollars of money we don't have for "stimulus", at least spend it on domestic energy production, something that will create tons of real jobs now and in the future, and will go a long way toward energy independence. Instead we will wait until the next spike in gas prices and people will cry and our benevolent government will step in with price controls and the march to socialism will continue unabated. It is a short walk from price controls to wage controls.

Rest assured if they get their way and bump gas taxes up by 50%, no one will be calling to repeal that increase when gas prices go back up, which they certainly will do. Once that increase is in place and those expected revenues are budgeted for spending, it will be impossible to reverse that increase. Gas prices are a ticking time bomb. The damage done to the economy with prices where they were is enormous. Let's hope that this insane idea of increasing gas taxes fades away like one of it's old school proponents, Paul Tsongas aka Paul "Taxongas".