Millions of Americans must drive their cars to work every day. Millions must also drive their cars to the store, to the dry cleaners and to church.
The low price of oil and the concurrent low price of gasoline has been a boon to Americans, especially the middle class.
Periodically there has been a call to raise gasoline taxes, especially by extreme environmentalists, so as to reduce CO2 emissions.
But others claim increased gasoline taxes are needed to provide funds to fix roads and bridges.
Unfortunately, highway taxes are being used to fund mass transit, rather than to fix roads and bridges, the original intent of gasoline taxes.
A Senator from Delaware is proposing to nearly double the existing 18.4 cent per gallon Federal gasoline tax, (24.4 cents for diesel) in order to “help pay for road and transit projects.”
An Oregon Congressman is also proposing to nearly double the Federal gasoline tax.
These proposals would increase Federal gasoline taxes to 33 cents per gallon … which are in addition to state gasoline taxes.
These proposals, plus others, are being made now because the price of gasoline is low, where it’s thought people might not notice the higher taxes.
New Yorker Magazine said:
“This is also an excellent moment to raise the gas tax, since oil and gas prices are so much lower than they were, making any price increase at the pump more palatable to drivers.”
And, the New Yorker also pointed out that CO2 emissions would be cut:
“The gas tax, by raising the cost of driving, gets us less of things we don’t like (pollution, carbon emissions, and road wear).”
Because we would drive less.
What these proponents of higher gasoline taxes ignore is that gasoline prices will increase again when the price of oil goes up … which is a virtual certainty.
President Obama’s proposal to tax each barrel of oil produced in the United States by $10 will automatically increase the price of gasoline as the “fee” is passed along to consumers.
This populist proposal will be supported by some, because “the rich oil companies” can afford the tax, and can absorb the increased cost.
It should also be noted that the government already receives a 12.5% royalty on oil extracted from Federal land, and even more from offshore.
The $10 fee will raise the cost of heating oil for those who use oil to heat their homes, which especially affects homeowners in the Northeast.
It will also increase the cost of manufacturing products that use oil, such as plastics.
Perversely, it will increase the cost of asphalt which will increase the cost of road repairs wherever asphalt is used.
The real motivation of the proposal to tax each barrel of oil $10 is revealed in the opening sentence of the Whitehouse Fact Sheet:
“As President Obama has repeatedly said, ‘No challenge poses a greater threat to future generations than climate change.’”
Cutting CO2 emissions is the underlying real reason for placing a $10 fee on each barrel of oil produced on Federal lands, and is also the underlying real reason for many proposals to increase the gasoline tax.
The $10 fee, as well as any other proposal to increase gasoline taxes, will harm Americans, especially the middle class.
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Nothing to Fear explains why CO2 isn’t to be feared, why politicians are harming Americans by pushing the CO2 agenda, and that mankind has benefited from using fossil fuels and can continue to do so, perhaps for 1,000 years.
Nothing to Fear is available from Amazon and some independent book sellers.
Link to Amazon: http://amzn.to/1miBhXy
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