The case for a gas tax HIKE | Philly

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Monday, May 12, 2008

The case for a gas tax HIKE

Uh, cancel that gas tax holiday. Attytood has already said that the gas-tax "vacation" boosted by Sens. John McCain and Hillary Clinton is a silly idea, and today come two Wharton profs who believe that America would be better served by people paying higher taxes on petrol products:

How do we know that the price of gas is too low? The current price of gas doesn't cover the true cost of using gasoline. The tax portion of the current price is insufficient to provide the funds necessary to maintain our roads and bridges, and the non-tax portion fails to cover the environmental cost of using gasoline.

Because the price of gas is too low, we are using too much gas and building too much driving into our lives by neglecting transit investment and encouraging urban sprawl. So let's put aside this talk of holidays and talk about raising the price of gas by increasing the gas tax.

"But wait a minute," you say, "we can't afford to buy gas at the current price." Not true. We can afford it, we are affording it - and that's the essence of our problem. If the price were still higher, we couldn't afford to buy the quantities of gas we're buying today, so we would conserve - not just because conservation is the right thing to do, but because it would be the only thing we could afford to do.

I have mixed feelings -- the short-term economic pain on many low-income Americans would be considerable. The authors cite the example of Philadelphia in noting that many poor people don't drive, but Philly with its extensive mass transit system is something of exception. What about poor people in, say, West Virginia? Given the state of our current political debate, opposing an ill-conceived gas-tax holiday is about the most courage anyone can muster now, anyway.

Posted by Will Bunch @ 9:25 PM Permalink | 90 comments

Comments

Posted 09:49 PM, 05/12/2008

SteveMG

I've been saying for a long time on this blog that we don't pay enough for the gs we use. It has a price that is much higher than that at the pump.

Posted 10:01 PM, 05/12/2008

Archimedes

Everyone has know for a long time that the gas tax is too low to discourage driving. It ought to be like the cigarette tax, which just went up $1.50 in my state, and for the same reason. Even Obama, however, might have trouble convincing anyone besides Tom Friedman, SteveMG, and me to raise the price of gasoline now. Glad he stood up against McCain and Hillary, but doing the sensible thing does not seem to be part of our political system. It is clear that countries with single-payer health care spend 10% of their GNP on health care while the U.S. sticks with a system that costs 16% of the GNP and is going up (and we rank 27th in health). Same story with the higher gas tax. Not to mention war in Iraq, although we may finally be seeing the end of that nonsense soon.

Posted 10:14 PM, 05/12/2008

Talking point sleuth

Even Obama, however, might have trouble convincing anyone besides Tom Friedman, SteveMG, and me to raise the price of gasoline now.

For what it's worth, Archie, I'm convinced also.

Posted 07:02 AM, 05/13/2008

ruthm

I have VERY mixed feelings as well. It would be great if higher gas prices could immediately produce positive change in terms of public transit options, and if people didn't truly need to drive to survive. But what about people who have to drive FOR their job, not just to get to it? I provide home care, so I can't work if I don't drive, and I don't make more money than someone in my field who works in a hospital. In fact, I make less.

Posted 07:04 AM, 05/13/2008

paul_lukasiak

and today come two Wharton profs

who. like our host, make more than enough money to not cringe every time they pass a gss station, and are in a position to not have to worry about gas prices.

what we need is an arrogance tax hike --- make it cost a lot more to show contempt for the concerns of working people. Bunch and all these Wharton professor types would take a big chunk out of our national debt if we taxed self-serving pronouncements like this one.

Posted 07:21 AM, 05/13/2008

montani semper liberi

paul, consumption taxes are preferred by conservatives over progressive taxes that actually favor working people. Bush yesterday said the same thing as those "Wharton professor types", saying that the marketplace will force conservation by hitting poor folks.....and he was FOR that!

Posted 07:54 AM, 05/13/2008

Yeah Paul! Rally against them there learned elitists! Who cares if they actually know what they are talking about, lets elect someone who will pat us on the head, tell us they'll make it all better.

Posted 08:20 AM, 05/13/2008

paul_lukasiak

Hey RC: there are two ways to get people to conserve. Rationing, which hits everyone equally, and raising prices, which forces doesn't force these six-figure Wharton professors to conserve anything, but does hurt working people. But if you say "rationing", these upper-middle class experts go bonkers, screaming about 'how it won't work' because means that they will actually have to carpool to Penn from their McMansions in Swarthmore. Rationing doesn't work for the wealthy, but it works just fine for working class people, who get affordable gas while sharing the inconvenience that rationing causes with everyone else.

"Experts" overwhelming find flaws in any proposal that hurts them, and praise any proposal that benefits them - or places the lions share of the burden on others. Its human nature.... and when listening to "experts" you should always remember that.

Posted 08:25 AM, 05/13/2008

legatus

As long as we all understand that when the gov't raises your cost it is a good thing....when Exxon does the same thing it is bad. (FWIW, I've always been of the opinion that it would require a $4 per gallon price for market forces to affect the consumption of gasoline.)

Posted 08:32 AM, 05/13/2008

db_cooper

"But wait a minute," you say, "we can't afford to buy gas at the current price." Not true. We can afford it, we are affording it - and that's the essence of our problem. " Cripes, Will, do you have ANY grasp of what the bitter folks in smaller-town PA are going through? You see everything through the lens of the big city, where someone could just stop driving and take SEPTA to work. It isn't that way for a lot of folks in depressed towns. They have to drive to their jobs that pay $13/hour (if they are lucky enough to have a job that pays that well nowadays). They can't afford to get a new gas-sipping Prius. They have to keep driving that 12 year old F150. The price of heating oil is now up to nearly $3.90 a gallon. Some folks are having to just go get three six-gallon jugs of kerosense at the gas station every week at $4.15 just so they can keep just enough heat to keep their pipes from freezing. And the price of gas is helping drive the food price spike (and an unhealthy level of hedge-fund speculation is driving up both oil and food). These folks are hanging on by their fingernails. And you want to step on their hands. And then you wonder why big-city liberal ideas embraced by the likes of you and Obama are failing to gain traction out there.

Posted 08:32 AM, 05/13/2008

Paul, rationing wasn't the other option being discussed, it was a gas tax holiday. And how does an increase in taxes or price of gas put the lions share on others if we all pay yhe same at the pump? Legatus, taxes go to fixing roads, etc. Exxon's profits (while nothing worng with them) do nothing to help the general public. How do you propose to fix our infrastructure?

Posted 08:39 AM, 05/13/2008

db_cooper

"I have mixed feelings -- the short-term economic pain on many low-income Americans would be considerable." Pain? Try oblivion for some. How about instead state governments outlaw tax breaks for pro-sports stadiums. And use the huge sums of money spent on playpens for billionaire team owners into highways. Rendell wants to put tolls on I-80. Would we need tolls if all the money Rendell plugged for stadiums and arenas had been put into highway maintenance?

Posted 08:45 AM, 05/13/2008

DB, now you're talking. As citizens lets start demanding that our tax dollars be used more efficiently. Taxes won't be such a dirty word then. Seems that right now, we already assume and price in wasteful spending.

Posted 08:48 AM, 05/13/2008

legatus

Rg, I have no problem with paying taxes to maintain our infrastructure. In the same way, I have no problem with Exxon making profits. After all, they're the ones who risk the capital in order to explore for oil, drill for it, pump it, transport it, refine it, distribute petro products, etc. If the oil companies were going belly-up, I think we'd all realize the effect they have on the general public in terms of economics, manufacturing, transportation, etc.

Comment removed.

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About Will Bunch

Will's book: Learn about it here and purchase it here.

Will Bunch, a senior writer at the Philadelphia Daily News, blogs about his obsessions, including national and local politics and world affairs, the media, pop music, the Philadelphia Phillies, soccer and other sports, not necessarily in that order.

E-mail Will by clicking here.

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