Michigan Congressman Wants 50-Cent Tax Hike on Every Gallon of Gas (1 Viewer)

[LSSpam]

Wow. I'm not sure how you interpret internet postings in your head as you read them, but if I've come across as condescending to you, I apologize.

You're right, I was over-the-top and out of line. I'm sorry.

 

[LSSpam]

The high price of gas is a main driver in this recession. Americans need to depend less on gas.

I agree. Everything I outlined would "immediately" (within a few years) reduce gasoline consumption.

However what you outlined (increase in gas tax) would not. Because the conditions which create high gasoline consumption already exist. If you raised gas prices by .50 cents tomorrow the same amount of gas would be consumed on Monday as it was the week before. All you did was worsen the economic problems. You accomplish nothing in the immediate but bad. Eventually, yes, the market would adjust. Gasoline friendly cars would come out, pressure for alternative fuels would increase. But in the interim the economy would suffer.

Why no create the same conditions without the economic turmoil? That strikes me as the obviois, easiest solution. That's what i'm advocating.

 

[TDH]

I agree. Everything I outlined would "immediately" (within a few years) reduce gasoline consumption.

However what you outlined (increase in gas tax) would not. Because the conditions which create high gasoline consumption already exist. If you raised gas prices by .50 cents tomorrow the same amount of gas would be consumed on Monday as it was the week before. All you did was worsen the economic problems. You accomplish nothing in the immediate but bad. Eventually, yes, the market would adjust. Gasoline friendly cars would come out, pressure for alternative fuels would increase. But in the interim the economy would suffer.

Why no create the same conditions without the economic turmoil? That strikes me as the obviois, easiest solution. That's what i'm advocating.

Like I said, phase it in. Make the tax low when fuel prices are high but ramp it up when prices go back down. That way consumers won't forget about it like they did after the 70s. This is what really chaps me. We went through this same mess but instead of trying to manage it we only made things worse.

 

[Paul]

it's just how it worked out.....but when i was with my ex, she wanted to move to slidell ....i put my foot down on that one.....no way i was going to drive that far to go to work.....

oh and lucien lives in slidell

for the most part, any place i worked in my profession, would be a pretty short trip for me

Please refrain from using my name in your posts, hippie.

Anyway, don't try to critcize me for living in Slidell. I don't complain about the cost of gas because I chose to live here when gas was about $1.20 per gallon. My crystal ball failed to tell me that it would damn near triple in a few years.
But the way things worked out, the company I work for has offices on the northshore, including Slidell, so I'm about 8 miles from work. My wife is about 10 miles unless she has to travel to different offices, which are within a 20 mile radius. This is how things worked out for us, not planned. I have an A2B car, and a road trip/weekend killer SUV - I enjoy both. She has her little car as well - between the both of us, we probably roll out about $200.00 per month on gas, which isn't bad considering I know folks shelling that out weekly, and then some. I don't overly concern myself with things that I have little to no control over. The cost of milk and other groceries has increased as well.... I could either purchase a cow, continue to shop at the market, convert to goat's milk, or just leave dairy alone, period. But my kids like their cereal swimming in 2% cow's milk.

My point is, we have options; what we choose to do with those options are choices that we have to live with.

 

[LSSpam]

That way consumers won't forget about it like they did after the 70s. This is what really chaps me. We went through this same mess but instead of trying to manage it we only made things worse.

We also relaxed emission standards (the SUV ) and alternative fuels.

I'm fine with a gasoline tax, but only if there is a viable alternative (and I don't mean ethanol). If you start seeing electric cars mass produced/marketed, sure, slap a tax on gas and push people in that direction. But they have to have somewhere to go other then off the side of a cliff.

Gasoline tax would be in the Year 5 - Year 10 range of any "oil crisis" type plan.

Which brings me to another point. We need to start thinking of energy in the same way we plan other infrastructure or our military. We need to think in terms of 20 year type plans, not election cycle band-aids. Which brings us back to the 70's and how short sighted that was.

 

[Severum]

I live less than 20 miles from my job and it still take almost 2 hours to get there because of traffic.

That should only take an hour or less on a bike unless your road options are terrible.


We needed a $1/gal tax on gas in the 90s to fund public transportation and alternative energy research. I agree that a large tax hike wouldn't be best under the current economic conditions.

Aggressive CAFE standards and PHEV rebates are all that we need to become energy independent within a decade. Making a 40-50mpg car is easy enough if you can convince consumers to buy them.

 

[keepoursaints]

That should only take an hour or less on a bike unless your road options are terrible.


We needed a $1/gal tax on gas in the 90s to fund public transportation and alternative energy research. I agree that a large tax hike wouldn't be best under the current economic conditions.

Aggressive CAFE standards and PHEV rebates are all that we need to become energy independent within a decade. Making a 40-50mpg car is easy enough if you can convince consumers to buy them.

Baton Rouge traffic, roads and drivers. I'd save money because I'd be dead.

Not to mention pedaling at even the slowest rate I'd be so sweaty by the time I got to work I'd need to take a shower.

 

[Severum]

BR roads qualify as terrible, though still doable in areas. I wouldn't even commute to there with a car.

 

[jpcdolphan]

Baton Rouge traffic, roads and drivers. I'd save money because I'd be dead.

Not to mention pedaling at even the slowest rate I'd be so sweaty by the time I got to work I'd need to take a shower.

Yeah, the "you can bike 20 miles to work" posts need to come to an end.

In fantasyland, it's a great idea. In the real world, it's simply not practical.

 

[keepoursaints]

BR roads qualify as terrible, though still doable in areas. I wouldn't even commute to there with a car.

If I road my bike on the roads I would need to I wouldn't have a shoulder to ride on most of the way. The roads just aren't bike friendly. I'd have to bike well out of the way to stay on roads that were "safe" for bike riders.

 

[JimEverett]

Yeah, the "you can bike 20 miles to work" posts need to come to an end.

In fantasyland, it's a great idea. In the real world, it's simply not practical.

Yeah, 20 miles is getting outside the reasonable range. I couldn't imagine someone doing that, especially in a Baton Rouge summer, if they didn't have someplace to shower at work.

 

[keepoursaints]

Yeah, 20 miles is getting outside the reasonable range. I couldn't imagine someone doing that, especially in a Baton Rouge summer, if they didn't have someplace to shower at work.

I'd sweat off 10lbs a day

 

[gaminerie]

Please refrain from using my name in your posts, hippie.

Anyway, don't try to critcize me for living in Slidell. I don't complain about the cost of gas because I chose to live here when gas was about $1.20 per gallon. My crystal ball failed to tell me that it would damn near triple in a few years.
But the way things worked out, the company I work for has offices on the northshore, including Slidell, so I'm about 8 miles from work. My wife is about 10 miles unless she has to travel to different offices, which are within a 20 mile radius. This is how things worked out for us, not planned. I have an A2B car, and a road trip/weekend killer SUV - I enjoy both. She has her little car as well - between the both of us, we probably roll out about $200.00 per month on gas, which isn't bad considering I know folks shelling that out weekly, and then some. I don't overly concern myself with things that I have little to no control over. The cost of milk and other groceries has increased as well.... I could either purchase a cow, continue to shop at the market, convert to goat's milk, or just leave dairy alone, period. But my kids like their cereal swimming in 2% cow's milk.

My point is, we have options; what we choose to do with those options are choices that we have to live with.

i agree with you Lucien. i am also coming to work with your company when i move home

For now, i spend most days walking or busing to and from the office in a large city. Whose pollution is due, in LARGE PART, to single-occupant automobiles, most of which wear Virginia and Maryland plates.

Metro trains and buses have their flaws, but if these commuters insist on living in West Virginia, or Hagerstown, or York, and working in DC but not even attempting to inconvenience themselves in the SLIGHTEST way by carpooling or catching those luxury buses....

.....then i don't see how taxing them on gasoline is unreasonable. HOT lanes (some call them "Lexus Lanes") have also been discussed around here.

 

[Paul]

i agree with you Lucien. i am also coming to work with your company when i move home

For now, i spend most days walking or busing to and from the office in a large city. Whose pollution is due, in LARGE PART, to single-occupant automobiles, most of which wear Virginia and Maryland plates.

Metro trains and buses have their flaws, but if these commuters insist on living in West Virginia, or Hagerstown, or York, and working in DC but not even attempting to inconvenience themselves in the SLIGHTEST way by carpooling or catching those luxury buses....

.....then i don't see how taxing them on gasoline is unreasonable. HOT lanes (some call them "Lexus Lanes") have also been discussed around here.

Well, I don't mind when the ladies use my name in their posts.

Only hippies from Kenna!