This is yet another reason why the tax should remain–we’ve been sucking on this teat for a long time and we still will be, gas tax or no gas tax. If people were truly going to end up going “cold turkey”, they wouldn’t drive at all–they’d carpool/ride-share, take the bus/metro/subway/train, bicycle or in some cases even walk. Continuing to pay a gas tax they are already paying = still smoking cigarettes, just mad as hell that they’re expensive and taxed.

Another thing to consider is plenty of people will be buying new and used vehicles over the summer months, and Americans’ collective memory is so short that if the gas tax isn’t there when they buy their mega-inefficient gas guzzler, they’ll once again be “surprised” when the gas tax is reintroduced after the summer. With the tax remaining in place (eg. the status quo) a few people might actually look at more fuel efficient vehicles who would otherwise not if prices were artificially lowered at their time of purchase.

A 3 month breather isn’t going to infuse the economy with enough to even make a blip on the radar in a positive direction, and while some families scraping by on tight margins could use any add’l cash, I’m not sure we’re doing them a favor with such a short term “relief”. Unlike the stimulus checks, efforts to buoy family’s facing foreclosure, etc., the gas tax holiday does indeed set people up for a nasty surprise when the tax goes back into effect. Oil prices aren’t going anywhere but up anytime soon, summer or no. Like the lobster in a pot that’s slowly brought up to a boil, people who’ve been artificially protected from the harsh economic realities of the rising cost of fuel may not make the necessary changes (see above regarding alternate modes of transportation, as well as taking less unnecessary trips & maximizing existing trips); when the gas tax is reintroduced they’d find they’re paralyzed, unable to make the leap out of the proverbial pot.

I don’t for a minute buy that the gas tax holiday, or something like it, would do a darn thing to help the poor. Even if it did, limiting it to just the summer would do more harm than good–create dependency on a false lower price that is going to shoot back up when the tax is reinstated. Further, many poor people don’t own a vehicle–they are one of the primary users of mass transit (bus, metro, rail, etc.) How about free bus and metro/subway if you want to help them and the working poor get to and from school, their jobs and on shopping trips?

C’mon, you don’t REALLY think a gas tax holiday that removes 18.4 cents per gallon on unleaded gasoline is going to keep anyone employed or off the public dole, do you? It’s a simplistic, short-sighted “solution” with only one intended real effect–to garner votes while doing NOTHING to solve any problem. Long term, sustainable solutions are what’s needed.

If we want the government to help its people (that would be Americans, legal citizens of the United States of America, living here and abroad) in every way possible, then what are we doing fighting in Iraq, again? … talk about billions of dollars that are desperately needed, and billions of it we’ve given over to the Iraqis cannot even be accounted for, and probably never will be. Gas tax holiday? END THIS WAR. Bring our working servicemen and women back from Iraq as soon as possible and let them rejoin our economy.

Teach a man to fish… don’t prop him up with a petty handout that you are going to yank away in 3 months’ time, anyway. And don’t say it’s “for the poor” at election time, not when the people apt to cheer loudest are driving H2s, Escalades, Suburbans and the like to and from Starbucks. The government just doesn’t want to see the headlines of folks across the USA paying $100 to fuel up…at least not until their candidate makes it to the Oval Office.

You are right we need to learn how to do more with less. I grew up with grandparents who were born before the depression and my dad was born in 33 so he was a child brought into the world by depression era parents. We learned how to make a buck stretch and to be happy with what we have. I love what I have and am on a fixed income I would rather have my health and my son and a simple roof over my head and a reliable vehicle over my head any day.

I don’t know how we became such a materialistic society and when I watch these tabloid type TV shows that glamorize the gluttony of Hollywood I am like “that is exactly why we are the way we are” I mean let’s face it I will never be Paris Hilton or Ivana Trump or any of the other countless women my age who were born into money or married into money, but I am seriously ok with that.

Ok done ranting on your rant lol. I felt compelled to comment on this though so I did. Have a great day.

Your twitter follower wildheart4vr aka Joe Cheray

The idea of returning a few dollars to those at the ‘barely getting by’ end of the population does the most good, and in case of the fuel tax, it actually makes the biggest impact on these families. The advantage for the citizens at the bottom end of the economic spectrum is that the reduction in tax helps them immediately — even if it is only enough per week to buy a few more items at the grocery store it helps them the most. At the top end, it won’t make much of an impact on ones day to day routine, but might mean another latte or two which keeps a struggling American employed.

What about vacations … if we can pad the stumbling economy, even mildly, by keeping a few more Americans spending on Mickey or filling a hotel room, that too keeps Americans (or illegals) working, paying taxes and out of the unemployment line or government welfare programs (funded by taxes). Whatever small things government can do to pad our landing and prevent a recession, they should attempt. Reducing taxes is one thing they can do to stimulate the economy … but congress also need to reduce their spending just as the American households do … and even more-so as the economy stumbles. The time to “legislate” (if you believe in that) smarter automotive choices is when Americans will suffer the least, not when they are suffering the most. For some, offering a few more dollars in their pockets will prevent them from having to choose between gas and milk. Yes … its just a small thing, unless you’re the family pinch that tightly.