A federal commission that the U.S. Congress created is expected to recommend a roughly 50 percent increase in fuel taxes at the end of this month. The reason? Motorists are driving less, thereby lessening the tax revenue that the government collects, thereby creating a shortfall in the federal government’s budget to fix roads and bridges.
Read that last sentence again. It is important.
Now ask yourself this: Does it not stand to reason that if motorists are really driving less it should follow that roads and bridges would require less maintenance? That is why it was established as a use tax in the first place. Secondly, are we really expected to believe that motorists are driving more than 50 percent less?
This commission, the awkwardly named National Commission on Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing (NCSTIF), would have us believe that the answers are “no” to the first question and “yes” to the second. They are prepared to recommend that taxpayers pony up an additional 10 cents per gallon on top of the current 18 cents per gallon federal gasoline tax and 24 cents per gallon on diesel.
But wait, it gets better. They also will recommend that individual states increase their fuel taxes, make greater use of toll roads and rush-hour driving fees, and that all of this should be tied to inflation so that the taxes continue to increase on their own.
West Newsmagazine’s recommendation is as follows: Federal government, get off our backs.
The one bright spot in this bleak economy has been lower fuel prices. Our homes are worth less, our investments are worth less, our jobs are less secure, but all that harsh reality has been softened just a bit because finally, after several years of skyrocketing prices, gas is affordable again.
Now we, the taxpayers, are supposed to care that the federal government is facing a “budget shortfall”? Every business in America and every family in America is facing a budget shortfall right now. It is called a recession. We are all in this together.
But guess what? The businesses and the families cannot arbitrarily decide to create brand new revenue through taxes, so they have had to make some difficult decisions. They have had to cut budgets. They have had to spend less. They have made themselves more efficient. It is a rather simple concept called fiscal responsibility. Does that phrase ring a bell, Washington D.C.?
No, of course it does not. Instead, our government’s plan is to raise our taxes. Their plan is to give out more speeding tickets to offset less retail sales tax. Their plan is to keep our real estate taxes artificially inflated through bogus assessments. Their plan is to use our money to make sure they do not have to make the same kind of hard choices that everybody living in the real world is making right now.
It is time for our elected officials to better understand real world conditions. At the end of the day, it will not be some bailout or stimulus plan or roads project that gets us out of this economic mess. It will be the American consumer, the American taxpayer, deciding to spend money again. At some point the fear will subside and the people of this great country will scream “Enough already!”
Enough with the bad news. Enough with the doom and gloom. Enough with all of it. We, the American people, will fix this problem. All we need is for government to get off our backs.
