A Pound of Thoughts

Say it isn’t so!  A democrat wanting to raise taxes?  As Gomer Pyle would say, “Surprise! Surprise!  Surprise!”  Not:

A Michigan congressman wants to put a 50-cent tax on every gallon of gasoline to try to cut back on Americans’ consumption.

Polls show that a majority of Americans support policies that would reduce greenhouse gases. But when it comes to paying for it, it’s a different story.

Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., wants to help cut consumption with a gas tax but some don’t agree with the idea, according to a new poll by the National Center for Public Policy Research. 

I’m not for making people pay more for gas.  We already have enough taxes on gas.  For example, the combined local, state and federal tax on fuel here in Mississippi is 37.2¢ per gallon.  Residents of New York pay 59.6¢, and California residents pay a whopping 63.9¢ per gallon.  The U.S. average is 47¢ per gallon.

To make Americans pay more for gas now would be ludicrous.  Americans are already having a tough time paying for their homes and bills.  I believe we need to take what money we have collected and use that to fund our conversion over to more conservative fuels, such as sugar-cane-derivative ethanol or biofuels.  Brazil has had tremendous success with SGD ethanol…Why can’t we do it?  To me, raising taxes on petroleum-based gasoline before having a widely-available alternative energy source is putting the cart before the horse.  Once we have that alternative energy source, then impose the higher tax to try to get people to switch over to it.  Don’t just raise the tax as a punishment for using the only energy source we currently have.

Some people just can’t think things out.