Obama to Pass on Gas Tax?

Just over a year ago I was planning on voting for Barrack Obama as President of the United States, my logic behind this had nothing to do with the current economic crisis we have fallen into today, nor any political ties to the democratic party; the sole logic behind my perceived necessity of Obama as president was for his proposed energy policy. He proposed a plan that would give tax cuts to the private sector if they could find a way to utilize renewable energy as well as throw millions of dollars at the research and development sector for finding more profitable ways to create renewable energy. However, it seems like President elect Obama may have stood in his own way by taking the idea of increasing the gasoline tax off the table.

For as long as I can remember I have been a proponent of raising the gas tax so that the entire economy would not fall prey to the volatility of fossil fuels. Once again I believe we have something to learn from Europeans as they have had gas taxes that help stabilize the economy for years. By instituting a tax that would hold the price of gas at let’s call it $5.00 per gallon. If the real price of gas was $1.50 then the government could collect $3.50 in taxes. However, if the real price of gas rose to $4.00 then the government would collect $1.00 in taxes. The public would not even realize the swings. Further, this would push our economy to find more fuel efficient cars. Once again we are faced with the realization that Europe has had an average mile per gallon of 40 in recent years and we are by no stretch of the imagination left in the dust. Maybe this has contributed to our current crisis in Detroit?

I am sorry to say that although we may not be in the best financial shape right now, I do believe that this tax is necessary to provide some stability to the economy in the long term. Further, if the new gas tax proposed is going to be that much of a problem, why not cycle the money generated by the taxes back into the economy in some form.

For a more complete look at this argument please refer to Steve Mufson’s article:
http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/postglobal/energywire/2009/01/obamas_gas_taxing_problem.html

Better luck to the stock market this week,

Matt