NYT: Tax Gas to $4 - $5 a Gallon Minimum

[armadamaster]

There are several ways to tax gas. One would be to devise a variable consumption tax in such a way that a gallon of unleaded gasoline at the pump would never go below a floor of $4 or $5 (in 2008 dollars), fluctuating to accommodate changing oil prices and other costs. Robert Lawrence, an economist at Harvard, proposes a variable tariff on imported oil to achieve the same effect and also to stimulate the development of domestic energy sources.

 

NYT

[streetline51]

Well if that were to happen, I would guess the drills would start up soon off the coast of the US .The added tax would make gas around $6-$8 a gallon,now wouldn't that help out a lot to get things moving again LOL

[theripper]

sensationalism. everyone saw the crippling effect $4 gas had on the country. it will never fly, and i think those statements were merely for attention.

[Ralph Greene]

I would vote for an additional .50 per gallon Fed gas tax if money was earmarked for transportation needs....roads, bridges, light rail, etc. It would probably not cost anything compared to allowing demand to go back up thru cheap gas.

 

With gasoline now around 1.50 per gallon most places, people are beginning to drive again. When the economy and industrial demand comes back, as well as the driving, we will probably begin again increasing our imports of crude. Thus hello much higher gasoline prices again some day. Although I'm not so sure that will happen any time soon.

 

With a .50 additional gas tax, maybe some driving would be curtailed, some demand would not come back, and gasoline prices would stay relatively low....maybe under $2.50 per gallon. So maybe tax would be "free". We have to raise money some where. I would rather have it here than on income. Why not have the folks who use the transportation system pay for it?

Edited December 28, 2008 by Ralph Greene

[streetline51]

I would vote for an additional .50 per gallon Fed gas tax if money was earmarked for transportation needs....roads, bridges, light rail, etc. It would probably not cost anything compared to allowing demand to go back up thru cheap gas.

 

With gasoline now around 1.50 per gallon most places, people are beginning to drive again. When the economy and industrial demand comes back, as well as the driving, we will probably begin again increasing our imports of crude. Thus hello much higher gasoline prices again some day. Although I'm not so sure that will happen any time soon.

 

With a .50 additional gas tax, maybe some driving would be curtailed, some demand would not come back, and gasoline prices would stay relatively low....maybe under $2.50 per gallon. So maybe tax would be "free". We have to raise money some where. I would rather have it here than on income. Why not have the folks who use the transportation system pay for it?

 

 

There is only 1 problem I see with that , where is your tax money now? Every time they get new money for something they say we need, it never gets to where it is supposed to go. I would be for it IF a law was passed so that none of that money could EVER go to anything else.

[94bronco]

Stupid liberals, Will Liberals ever learn to understand how an economy works or are they really just that fucking stupid? We need to stop spending money on these alternative fuels projects and just keep drilling as there is a whole century of an oil run society still to be had if we had some common sense.

[armadamaster]

I would vote for an additional .50 per gallon Fed gas tax if money was earmarked for transportation needs....roads, bridges, light rail, etc. It would probably not cost anything compared to allowing demand to go back up thru cheap gas.

 

With gasoline now around 1.50 per gallon most places, people are beginning to drive again. When the economy and industrial demand comes back, as well as the driving, we will probably begin again increasing our imports of crude. Thus hello much higher gasoline prices again some day. Although I'm not so sure that will happen any time soon.

 

With a .50 additional gas tax, maybe some driving would be curtailed, some demand would not come back, and gasoline prices would stay relatively low....maybe under $2.50 per gallon. So maybe tax would be "free". We have to raise money some where. I would rather have it here than on income. Why not have the folks who use the transportation system pay for it?

 

Uh-huh...that extra .50 cents a gallon would just go to more pork, like 90% of the last highway bill through Congress (IIRC correctly).

[V8-X]

There is only 1 problem I see with that , where is your tax money now? Every time they get new money for something they say we need, it never gets to where it is supposed to go. I would be for it IF a law was passed so that none of that money could EVER go to anything else.

 

 

Uh-huh...that extra .50 cents a gallon would just go to more pork, like 90% of the last highway bill through Congress (IIRC correctly).

+1

 

If there was any reassurance that the funds would be dedicated solely for transportation needs, then I'd be all for it. Problem is, like stated above, never gets to its intended or implied destination.

[Imawhosure]

Anyone with common sense has seen what has happened when they allow a tax for any supposed reason to go through.

 

Doubt it? Where is the SS money? It went into the general fund, that is where it went; to be spen as politicians seen fit. I agree with a previous poster, that if we tax, and it can only be spent where the earmark is intended, now we talk. As long as they can move it around, all you are doing is funding things that you might not even want to consider.

 

Let us not blame liberals, as if we do, no coming together will ever happen. If rather we come together and decide on a tax to go for something, and only for that thing............liberals will be as pissed as conservatives are, if they spirit the cash away!

 

Liberal Democrats need to understand this one important view--------->we on the conservative side, will go with you on many things, if you can make them put the money towards what it is intended. But if all the politicians do is spend the money where they wish, then come back and insist a project is underfunded............not because it was underfunded, but because they spent it elsewhere, then you are just blowing into the wind.

 

Always remember------->many of us will support the ideas, and support the taxes. Just insure that the money goes for the program ALL of us voted the tax in for, not the pet projects that either party spirits said money away to!

[fmccap]

Doubt it? Where is the SS money? It went into the general fund, that is where it went; to be spen as politicians seen fit. I agree with a previous poster, that if we tax, and it can only be spent where the earmark is intended, now we talk. As long as they can move it around, all you are doing is funding things that you might not even want to consider.

You should like this. It's the truth just some are in denial.

Edited January 1, 2009 by fmccap

[Trimdingman]

If it weren't for taxation, we would all be rich and we wouldn't need any social services.

As for gas prices, the government is just as greedy as the oil companies. In Canada, the tax on gas is a percentage. When the price of gas went through the roof, so did the tax on it. The government would not give us a break.

Taxation is the root of all of our financial problems.

[suv_guy_19]

If it weren't for taxation, we would all be rich and we wouldn't need any social services.

 

[g48150]

They won't tax gas, especially when people are getting evicted from their houses.

 

Better to raise property tax, that way all that bailout money for bad mortgages ends up somewhere ...