So - what's the current federal tax on gasoline? 18.4 cents per gallon. In Oregon the state tax on gasoline is 24 cents per gallon. For a sum total of 42.4 (42) cents per gallon.
And what does the government do for that? NOTHING. FREE MONEY FOR THE GOVERNMENT - never mind the taxes on the tires and customs and shipping and licensing for the drilling and processing and such just to get the gas into the ground to pump it out and tax you on it.
So given our current gas prices for regular - $3.50/gallon - without taxes - would be ~$3.00 (rounding for simplicity).
But take that $0.42 per gallon and multiply it by a 20 gallon tank - and you get $8.40 PER TANK in taxes.
That's just ME. Times that time ~2-3 times per month - and you get say 36 times per year or $291 in taxes - for just one vehicle - multiply that times two (I have two) and I pay nearly $600/year in taxes just to drive. Never mind what I pay at DEQ for my tags.
(If you work for a living....why do you kill yourself working?)
Now - according to the EIA (US Energy Information Administration) we consume 378,000,000 gallons of motor gasoline per day. Go by the Oregon gas rate with federal tax rate and you get $158,760,000 in taxes daily or $58 106 160 000 in taxes yearly - $58 BILLION - ONE HALF THE COST OF OBAMACARE (Over half) - AND - now they want MORE.
Anyone else want $8.40 taken off your gas bill? That'd drop me from about $70 to fill my car to $62 - and when I bought my car - it only cost $32 to fill it. We're over 200% increase in prices.
For anything else...
That's your Happy Meal instead of costing $5 - costing $10.
Your $20 shirt - $40.
Your $1.00 burger - $2.00
Your $1.50 soda - $3.00
Your $150 shopping bill to buy groceries - $300.
And you don't get a raise to pay for it.
You're still making $10/hr or whatever and have to pay rent - pay for your health insurance - all that jazz.
And now - you're going to in addition to paying nearly $100 just to fill up your tank - you're going to be charged on MILEAGE - how far you drive.So - now it's bad enough that you HAVE to drive to get to work - you're going to be taxed additionally on working in addition to the taxes you pay out of your paycheck.....
Now....how about the poor....who barely can afford a car and get it as a way to relax and go out and de-stress a bit so they can enjoy some sort of a life - and now - it gets even more expensive?
Now don't think that this is about mileage. Just like Obamacare's not about healthcare - it's about the government getting up in our business.
How are they going to track it? GPS? Tracking devices? Is it ANYONES BUSINESS how far *I* drive? And how are you going to know how far I drove without knowing WHERE I drove?
Why should I suddenly pay for what I didn't pay for before? Why?Given I already pay for mileage because the further I drive the more gas taxes I pay.....why not just raise the gas tax? Why tax mileage? Why.....why develop technology and all these new systems and hire new government employees and create new agencies and pay for new healthcare of the new employees - which sucks up your revenue made off the new tax - to track mileage when you just raise the gas tax for free without having to develop tracking or pay for reporting.....? Anyone else think that's suspicious? It doesn't "add up."
Granted the article talks about more people switching to hybrids - but - hybrids really don't give you back what you put into them and even the hybrid market isn't doing as well as people would like to think because of the price. If you're looking to save money - you're going to be buying a $20k car at minimum which is ~$400/month (not including the insurance you pay for it) - just so you don't have to fill up on gas as often. Also, given that the environmental harm done by mining the materials for the batteries isn't offset by the gas you save anytime soon after buying it....
But I digress....
What if.....I only drive on MY property? Do I "owe" the government (of the PEOPLE by the PEOPLE for the PEOPLE - essentially - ME) money - for driving MY vehicle - on MY property (which I rent from the government with property taxes - that's what property tax is - rent to the government - if I don't pay it they evict me and take it....)
Sooooo.....what do YOU think?
I'll tell you what though - this is ONE time I'm glad I live in Oregon because Oregonians I *KNOW* won't put up with that one - this state has the lowest number of police per-capita in the US because they don't like anything to do with anybody knowing their business (yet voted for obama....idiots) - but - we don't have police checkpoints here - violation of constitutional principle and against the 4th amendment - and even the mayor of Portland refused to allow the FBI to be headquartered in the city unless he had access to the same info they did which they wouldn't give him so he said no....covering something up? I dunno - our Sheriff refused to turn any records over to the idiot activists on concealed weapons permit holders.....
I just don't know how this is going to go over.....who's going to submit to this?
Where does it end?
We could be incredibly wealthy as a nation if we turned much of this over to the private corporations who could do much of the government's work much cheaper and more efficiently - but it's about power and control my friends....
Although you have to admit as Rush said today - we know not all Democrats and liberals want the country completely trashed because they still want the power that comes with America when they get to the top of wherever they are headed...
How about instead of RAISING taxes....DECREASING costs?
(In the two days since I wrote this gas has gone up to nearly $4.00/gallon - and my idiot senator Jeff Merkley's solution is releasing fuel from the strategic reserve).