McCain's Gas Tax Pander--Who Loses?
Ronald Bailey | April 16, 2008, 3:51pm
Reason Foundation founder and transport maven Robert Poole singes Sen. John McCain for his proposal for a summer gasoline tax holiday. From the Out of Control blog:
I was flabbergasted by John McCain's proposal to suspend collection of the federal gas tax for this summer. Suspending this user tax would deprive the Highway Trust Fund of $8-10 billion in much-needed revenue to patch potholes, rebuild failing bridges, and keep the Interstates and other key arteries from further declines in their already pathetic levels of performance. And this comes at a time when the Trust Fund is already facing a 2009 shortfall of $2-3 billion (thanks to Congress legislating more highway spending than existing gas-tax revenues can support). Plus, since the gas tax is only about 5% of the cost of a gallon of gas, the savings to motorists would be trivial.
McCain's advisors have rushed forward with damage control, promising a legislative proposal that would hold the Trust Fund harmless by replacing the lost gas-tax revenue with general fund money, thereby adding another $8-10 billion to this year’s ballooning deficit. That would at least make the proposal less irresponsible from a transportation policy standpoint.
Poole's solution? Instead of tax games and a fake trust fund, sell the highways. Or as he puts it:
The longer-term solution is to scrap the 20th-century tax-and-grant system in favor of universal tolling, managed by each state’s Department of Transportation and private toll companies.
Whole item here.
Lawrence | April 16, 2008, 5:40pm | #
Of course JM is a fool for suggesting the holiday tax.
But it is highly interesting that Libertarians would put their focus and requesting that state governments use tracking on all of their citizens to achieve "funding".
Because that is what tolling across the nation would be right now.
Now one can posit that libertarians just view this as a trade off to further the freemarket, but, the reality of "selling" off of the "highways" of America right now, is probably closer, from an economic standpoint, to what is going on in Iraq, or in the way that the DoD still can't be audited.
The end result would be both higher road costs, and reduced liberty as more states but "I-pass" devices in cars like we do in Illinois, and of course I-pass in Illinois has already been used in court to track people.
So, libertarians want more expensive roads, and more government involvement tracking of citizens.
Unintended consequences anyone?
But, increasing costs and decreasing liberty is probably just icing on the cake to Post-Buckley Libertarians!
Actually, libertarians will just pretend they have no idea what this all means.
No doubt, no doubt at all.
After all, Reagan, the man that forced all states to tow the line on speed limits and drinking age is a hero to you (anti) liberty folks.(and also could be said to be directly/indirectly responsible for random road blocks by his judicial appointments who like the idea so much.)
