Time to raise the gas tax
Gasoline prices may seem to be bouncing around a bit but overall they have dropped like a rock. What a great time to raise the national gasoline tax. Or for that matter to raise Georgia’s gas tax.
Georgia’s average price for a gallon of regular unleaded is down to $1.81 a gallon. That mark stands about 13 cents lower than the national price. The AAA Fuel Gauge Report reports Savannah with the highest metro area price–$1.83. Augusta has the lowest metro average of $1.73. Georgians last year at this time were paying an average $3.19 a gallon.
The national average for regular unleaded is down to $1.95 a gallon, down from $3.21 a year ago.
Don’t expect Sonny to do this. But imagine a long-term tax policy at either the state or federal level: Every time the average price of gasoline drops 10 cents a gallon, two pennies in tax are added. When the price goes up, the tax stays, and two more cents are added the next time the average price drops. The idea would be to increase the gas tax gradually so that people would have an incentive to get around with less driving without giving a massive whack to the economy.
Yeah, I realize that more taxes aren’t what people need right now (Believe me: I know. I’m unemployed). But what if the gas tax hike was accompanied by a cut in income taxes at the lower end of the economic ladder — say, an increase in the maximum amount of income that can be earned without any income tax?
Other people, including this noble congressman from Connecticut, support the even better idea of a carbon tax. But that has as much of a chance of passing as does national holiday honoring the captain of the Exxon Valdez. Raising the gas tax is virtually the third rail in red state politics, but in Congress it actually could be approved as part of a national strategy on global warming.
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