Time to raise the gasoline Tax?

[Brovane]

Is it time to raise the gasoline tax?

#1-To help spur development of alternative modes of transportation? Like electric cars, more fuel efficient cars, etc? Maybe pay for tax incentives for production of cars that don't use internal combustion engines?

#2- We know the infrastructure of this country needs some serious investment. Put more spending into this infrastructure which should also spur jobs?

#3- Use tax revenue to significantly increase the SPR?

Should we use this opportunity to make some serious changes to try and get off being so dependent on petroleum as part of national energy policy? Do we just let the free market work?

 

[Young Grasshopper]

nah

 

[Brainonska511]

I could see raising the gas tax only if they put that money towards infrastructure (fix roads, add more public transit, charging stations for electric cars (?), etc). If they won't do this, then don't bother. The government should be going through the existing budget if it needs money. Cut bad programs, keep good programs (and give them a little more money if it will give an even better return), and help make current programs more efficient - such as Medicare/Medicaid - they should be able to use their size to collectively bargain drug prices as well as taking bids from equipment suppliers to get the lowest price possible.

 

[CADsortaGUY]

No. Until a certain tax that is sold as needed for XYZ actually only goes towards that XYZ - I will support no tax increase.

 

[Darwin333]

Right now is a bad time to raise any tax.

 

[daniel49]

Washington state has the highest gas tax in the nation already. The rest of you suck it up.

 

[XZeroII]

Originally posted by: Darwin333
Right now is a bad time to raise any tax.

 

[dlx22]

Originally posted by: Brovane
Is it time to raise the gasoline tax?

#1-To help spur development of alternative modes of transportation? Like electric cars, more fuel efficient cars, etc? Maybe pay for tax incentives for production of cars that don't use internal combustion engines?

#2- We know the infrastructure of this country needs some serious investment. Put more spending into this infrastructure which should also spur jobs?

#3- Use tax revenue to significantly increase the SPR?

Should we use this opportunity to make some serious changes to try and get off being so dependent on petroleum as part of national energy policy? Do we just let the free market work?

ask a bunch of truckers what they think of your idea....be prepared to run..lol
but in all seriousness, gas has been reasonable for what about a month now? lower gas prices if anything will help our economy right now.

 

[techs]

Yes. New oil and energy development projects are being killed in the U.S. since the projects need a certain price of oil to be profitable.
If oil had a tax supported bottom of say, 65 per barrel, these projects wouldn't be cancelled and many more would started. This would provide the US energy security while the US consumer would still spend far less for a gallon of gas than anyone else in the First world.

 

[dlx22]

it seems kinda like a short run vs long run kind of arguement for what will best help our economy, short run no more gas tax, long run our economy needs innovation to survive. For most people i think it depends on how long it takes us to get to the long run.

 

[Stunt]

Taxing gasoline is in effect the same as a consumption tax. I favour tax incentives for saving, productivity, R&D and investment...these cuts should be offset by taxing consumption.

Taxing consumption can be done many ways; gasoline used to transport goods, sales tax, or taxation of sin products (cigarettes, alcohol, criminal activity).
You can make an argument for and against all taxation but for the most part you tax things you want to discourage and give incentives on things you want.

 

[spidey07]

One sure way to kill any economy is to increase taxes. Great idea there.

Killing business and production in the name of "going green" is just insane. This is terrible...this idea of raising gas tax.

 

[Brovane]

Originally posted by: spidey07
One sure way to kill any economy is to increase taxes. Great idea there.

Killing business and production in the name of "going green" is just insane. This is terrible...this idea of raising gas tax.

Is it really a green issue our a national security issue? I see us being less dependent on oil as a national security issue not a green issue.

Did $140 barrel for oil kill the economy or did the mortgage and credit crisis kill the economy?

 

[dlx22]

Originally posted by: Brovane

Originally posted by: spidey07
One sure way to kill any economy is to increase taxes. Great idea there.

Killing business and production in the name of "going green" is just insane. This is terrible...this idea of raising gas tax.

Is it really a green issue our a national security issue? I see us being less dependent on oil as a national security issue not a green issue.

Did $140 barrel for oil kill the economy or did the mortgage and credit crisis kill the economy?

or both?

 

[Brovane]

Originally posted by: techs
Yes. New oil and energy development projects are being killed in the U.S. since the projects need a certain price of oil to be profitable.
If oil had a tax supported bottom of say, 65 per barrel, these projects wouldn't be cancelled and many more would started. This would provide the US energy security while the US consumer would still spend far less for a gallon of gas than anyone else in the First world.

I agree whole heartily with that. Some of the projects like deep water drilling and oil shale require oil to be above a certain level in order for them to make economic sense.

 

[Brovane]

Originally posted by: dlx22

Originally posted by: Brovane

Originally posted by: spidey07
One sure way to kill any economy is to increase taxes. Great idea there.

Killing business and production in the name of "going green" is just insane. This is terrible...this idea of raising gas tax.

Is it really a green issue our a national security issue? I see us being less dependent on oil as a national security issue not a green issue.

Did $140 barrel for oil kill the economy or did the mortgage and credit crisis kill the economy?

or both?

Maybe Credit Default Swaps are what killed the economy and set off this crisis? Do we take action to move away from petroleum before we see $200 barrel?

 

[winnar111]

Originally posted by: spidey07
One sure way to kill any economy is to increase taxes. Great idea there.

Killing business and production in the name of "going green" is just insane. This is terrible...this idea of raising gas tax.

But Al Gore needs to sell his company's carbon credits!

 

[Rustler]

Let's give the govenment more of our money since they do such a fine job spending it...................

 

[Stunt]

Originally posted by: spidey07
One sure way to kill any economy is to increase taxes. Great idea there.

Killing business and production in the name of "going green" is just insane. This is terrible...this idea of raising gas tax.

One can argue that some public goods like law enforcement, national defense and perhaps education and healthcare (more debatable) are more efficient to administer due to economies of scale. It can be more attractive for a company to operate in a nation where health and pension benefits are covered by the citizens of the nation so long as corporate taxation is low. These services must be paid for through taxation; taxation in itself may fund the most efficient use of funds and therefore a necessary evil.

Again, if you increase taxes on things you don't want and decrease taxes on things you want. A good example is crime where penalties are paid for behavior you don't want. This can be applied to whatever you want; crime, pollution, toxic waste, drugs, etc. Apply theses revenues to tax cuts on investing, saving, innovation.

 

[Stunt]

Originally posted by: Rustler
Let's give the govenment more of our money since they do such a fine job spending it...................

What government spends money on is another topic of discussion.
Right now there's a massive deficit and taxation must be implemented to pay for government obligations or obligations must be cut to maintain the current taxation rates.

 

[Rustler]

Lets go full out and have government have all the money and they can dole out what they deem necessary that we need.

Here is a novel Idea how about Cutting spending and eliminating unecessary programs........................................

 

[techs]

Originally posted by: Brovane

Originally posted by: techs
Yes. New oil and energy development projects are being killed in the U.S. since the projects need a certain price of oil to be profitable.
If oil had a tax supported bottom of say, 65 per barrel, these projects wouldn't be cancelled and many more would started. This would provide the US energy security while the US consumer would still spend far less for a gallon of gas than anyone else in the First world.

I agree whole heartily with that. Some of the projects like deep water drilling and oil shale require oil to be above a certain level in order for them to make economic sense.

Some people think there could be up to 200 BILLION barrels of oil in the Bakken formation in Montana and South Dakota.
Buh bye, OPEC.

 

[heyheybooboo]

Originally posted by: Rustler
Lets go full out and have government have all the money and they can dole out what they deem necessary that we need.

Here is a novel Idea how about Cutting spending and eliminating unecessary programs........................................

Yeah.

Who needs new roads and improved roads, anyway? Let current roads break up into chunks - we can always send those prison chain gangs out to pick 'em up. Think of the economic boost from increased spending for tires and auto repair.

Asphalt only costs 3 times what it did in January so we can't afford it anyway. Sheesh. In the past, about 40 percent of an oil barrel would be turned into asphalt products and now it's around 10 percent - and dropping.

We can't afford the luxury of decent paved roads anymore - let's go ahead and shut down all those unnecessary highway and street departments.

 

[Stunt]

Originally posted by: techs

Originally posted by: Brovane

Originally posted by: techs
Yes. New oil and energy development projects are being killed in the U.S. since the projects need a certain price of oil to be profitable.
If oil had a tax supported bottom of say, 65 per barrel, these projects wouldn't be cancelled and many more would started. This would provide the US energy security while the US consumer would still spend far less for a gallon of gas than anyone else in the First world.

I agree whole heartily with that. Some of the projects like deep water drilling and oil shale require oil to be above a certain level in order for them to make economic sense.

Some people think there could be up to 200 BILLION barrels of oil in the Bakken formation in Montana and South Dakota.
Buh bye, OPEC.

Is that oil sands? heavy or light crude?
Bakken is the largest natural gas discovery in recent history. Natural gas burns cleaner than gasoline; we should be converting our cars to this fuel source.

 

[Rustler]

I didn't mean highways were not necessary but most will agree that there is spending that could be cut..............