An article in Time about the gas tax mentions that the roads are in great need of help and the way that they are paid for is through the gas tax. And the other members in my group stated about how the gas tax will help the economy. But I want to ask, what really is the gas tax trying to do? If you’re raising the tax to help the environment that means you’re asking for people to use less gas. But, the point of raising the gas tax is to pay for the roads. In this article at, http://curiouscapitalist.blogs.time.com/2010/06/09/is-it-time-to-raise-the-gas-tax/#ixzz1HIOG0I2G, it’s said that the Highway Trust Fund is bankrupt and we need to pay for the roads somehow. But now we have two things happening, raising the tax to make people get off the road, and raising the tax to help the roads. I firmly believe that if you kick enough people off the roads and get them on busses, the gas tax will NOT help the roads as much as everyone is wanting because now we have less people buying gas. It seems that we are not sure what the gas tax is really going to help, and before we tax people on yet another thing we should be positive of what it will help. Now both of these things seem to be helpful to something else, but these sources and the rest of America aren’t looking at the bigger picture of whom and what will be affected. Especially how many jobs will be affected, to see this you can link to http://www.saveusenergyjobs.com/2010/09/lsu-professor-warns-against-energy-tax-proposals/. And this is one of the reasons why I believe that this article and others are short of evidence.
In yet another article, we are told that a $2 gas tax would generate $750 million dollars a day! This we know will pay for A LOT of stuff that is definitely needed, but who has money to pay for a $2 gas tax? This is not a reasonable argument at this time, America has been in a recession and that means that most everyone is having hard times, and will not be able to afford the gas tax.
Julia, you should look into the concept of "elasticity," because you clearly don't understand it. Gas is a necessity, and is therefore inelastic. This means that a moderate increase in price (or, in this case, tax) on a good will result in only a minor decrease in the quantity demanded for that good. This means that a moderate gas tax hike will not result in a falloff in gas tax revenue, and, in fact, the opposite will be true.
ReplyDeleteAdditionally, no one is seriously proposing a $2 gas tax increase. Virtually all proposals are for a 50 cent increase, or less. For example, Rep. Oberstar of Minnesota proposed a 5 cent increase in 2007.
On another note: if the Highway Trust Fund has to get its money from another source, then it will either be funded by some other tax, or borrowing. If the money is raised via a tax, then the aggregate impact on the economy will be the same, assuming the amount taxed is the same as the amount that was previously transferred from other sources. If that money is borrowed, then it adds to our deficit and national debt, and is fiscally irresponsible.
Also, Julia, you should look into finding some more credible sources; yours are clearly extreme-right front groups.
So... I guess any website that doesn't support your extreme liberal views are "extreme-right". Get over yourself.
ReplyDeleteProblem, Goldy?
ReplyDeleteThe $2 gas tax was an idea in the article that was refuting against! Its what someone thought to do! and as for the sources, they are credible enough for whats being argued even if you don't agree with them!
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