Name of the source: Time Magazine
http://curiouscapitalist.blogs.time.com/2010/06/09/is-it-time-to-raise-the-gas-tax/
This article was posted by Barbara Kiviat. This article is actually against my side, it talks about whether or not it is time to raise the gas tax. This article mostly talks about how the Highway Trust Fund is bankrupt. And that is one reason that we need to raise the gas tax, because that's what pays for our roads. The reason that I thought this article was useful, was because its a big part of the argument. For me, I saw that this was a strong argument on her part although it was not for my side. This made it hard to argue against but using it with other arguments. The reason that I thought this was a good article to use is because it is from a trusted source, everyone has heard of Time magazine. But, that also made it really hard to refute. I was also able to use some of the comments posted on the web for this argument and then this article became more useful to me.
Name of the source: The Hill
http://thehill.com/opinion/columnists/dick-morris/148199-suspend-the-gas-tax
In this article, Dick Morris writes about suspending the gas tax. The main reason that this was helpful to us was because it is a fairly credible source. It was helpful to see how the gas tax would affect the rest of the economy. He says at the very beginning of the article that we should suspend the gas-tax until the actual gas prices drop, and then we can raise the tax again. This almost set in a whole new view of things. This was a very interesting and informative article.
Name of the Source: Grist
http://www.grist.org/article/against-a-gas-tax1
David Roberts, a staff writer for Grist, writes this article about why taxes can't get us where we want on to go on transportation. It gave some really good ideas about the gas tax. And was helpful because it pointed out views that I normally would have been able to understand. It also provides what we can tell is good evidence. The one thing that would make this a better source is if we know where everyone gets their information. This makes a source much more credible.
Pro-Gas Tax:
Name of the Source: "Should the United States Increase the Federal Gasoline Tax?"
Jake Ferguson, who is affiliated with the University of Northern Iowa, wrote this article. This article was very helpful in providing great information regarding the background of the federal gas tax and the possible pros and cons of an increase in the tax. It gave some excellent background details, which helped give a better understanding of what the federal gas tax costs and what its revenues fund. Not only did it describe some excellent arguments for both sides, but it also gave some reliable resources that were able to provide even more helpful information. These resources were very informative and provided hard facts for our arguments.
Name of the Source: "Raise the Gas Tax" - The Wall Street Journal
This article was published in the Wall Street Journal and written by Gregory Mankiw. Mankiw, a professor of economics at Harvard University, was able to give some great insight into the economical effects a raise in the gas tax would bring about. I found this article to be very helpful, as it was able to take my mind off of how much an increase would directly cost at the gas pump and help me focus on the big picture. He gave some excellent arguments for how an increase in the gas tax could greatly help our economy as a whole. He discussed how an increase would effect the environment, road congestion, regulatory relief, the federal budget, taxes, economic growth, and even national security.
Name of the Source: “The Gas Tax” – The Political Cartel Foundation
This article, published by the Political Cartel Foundation, a registered non-profit corporation, was yet another very helpful resource in learning more about the effects of the gas tax. The Political Cartel Foundation is an international online editorial magazine featuring analysis on political, social, and philosophical issues. They gave some excellent statistics regarding the effect inflation has had on the purchasing power of the federal gas tax. This article helped describe how the gas tax is actually a smaller percentage than many previous years. It was very eye opening. http://www.grist.org/article/against-a-gas-tax1
