To Be Announced...

It's funny how nobody ever talked about this when they were bashing oil companys' profits and the high cost of gasoline. Nor did they mention much about it prior to November last year. I wonder why that is?

Lawmakers: Time to consider gas tax hike

DES MOINES — The top legislators on transportation issues said Monday that the state is long overdue for a conversation about how it pays for roads, a conversation that may include talk of an increase in the gasoline tax.

“This is not political. This is Iowa’s needs,” said Sen. Tom Rielly, D-Oskaloosa, chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee.

Oh, so that's why it wasn't discussed in the course of a campaign for elective office. I get it.

And it ain't just Democrats who are talking about raising the price of gasoline...

Rep. David Tjepkes, R-Gowrie, the top Republican on the House Transportation Committee, said party labels shouldn’t matter when it comes to maintaining highways.

“There needs to be some political courage,” he said. But few legislators are ready to talk about specific tax proposals or assess the likelihood of any tax increases this year.

It's funny how raising taxes is always described as having "political courage" and never in the context of cutting them.

And I love this part...

Sen. Jeff Danielson, D-Waterloo, said the topic is more complicated than whether to raise taxes, because improvements in fuel efficiency undermine the usefulness of a tax on gasoline.

“It is highly likely that the gas tax will become obsolete,” he said.

Yeah? A tax becoming obsolete, hmm? Quick...name a previously obsolete tax.

The phone tax meant to pay for the Spanish-American War? Okay, I'll give you that one...but it DID take 108-years to pay for that war, so that's a long time to become obsolete...

Feds cut off phone tax after 108 years

So after they raise gasoline taxes, can we talk about the obscene profits of the oil company's again? If there's anyone who can organize a meeting and collude to arbitrarily fix prices in order to profit...it's our legislators.

-----------
-----------
Sign up to the new GregSays Newsletter. Weekly highlights, unique insider information and valuable extra content delivered right to the email address you provide. Your Privacy guaranteed.

Labels: gas tax