Thursday, March 20, 2008

What a Dingelling

Congressman John Dingell of Michigan has proposed a 50 cent a gallon gas tax hike in an effort to curb American gas consumption, which he hopes will aid in slowing Global Warming: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,298271,00.html.

Hmm, let's see. Who would be hardest hit by this? I don't think that it would be the Hummer-driving suburbanite, who will bitch and moan but can probably afford the higher cost. No, it'll be those same poor people about whom Dingell supposedly cares so much. As well, this hike wouldn't just affect gas prices. Memo to Congressman Dingell: It's Economics 101. If you are a business--let's just say it's a chain of grocery stores--and your costs (shipping, etc.) get driven up by this, to whom are you going to pass the cost? Umm, that would be us, Mr. & Mrs. Public. So, a huge gas tax hike like this would affect not just the cost of gas, but everything that is transported by vehicles or equipment that uses gas (which is to say, virtually all food and consumer goods), airfares, public transportation (what, do you think that buses don't require fuel?) and I could go on and on.

Good idea, Congressman!

1 comment:

Serket said...

Funny title and good analysis on how it would effect the entire economy. I was thinking about this topic earlier in the campaign, how is raising gas taxes and income taxes supposed to help the poor?