(original opinion)
Other than adding 3 oz. of pure acetone to your full tank of gas, which some people swear will give you 25% better fuel efficiency, and others swear will destroy your car, what can be done to make gasoline more affordable?
Simple: Suspend the federal gasoline tax. Instead of paying $3 a gallon at the tank, you will only be paying $2.40, which beats a jab with a pointed stick.
But why has no one in the federal government ever even suggested such a thing? Not as long-term tax relief, but just as a short-term easing.
It seems reasonable. The federal government is more than willing to absorb the increase in its tax revenue when the price of gasoline goes up. So why not at least fix a ceiling to the federal tax, so the public doesn't get doubly-gouged when the price of gas is exhorbitant?
The American economy runs on gasoline and diesel fuel. For the relative pittance of only hundreds of millions of dollars that tax brings in over the few weeks of a fuel price spike, all of that transportation brings to the government tens of billions of tax revenue from an economy less weakened by high fuel prices.
I find it hard to think of a better, purer election issue than to temporarily suspend the gas tax. It is almost like offering to buy voters a glass of beer--an old American tradition. |