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Automotive News & Views How does gas at $4 and higher impact you?
2183 messages, Last post on Nov 21, 2009 at 5:13 PM
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Replying to: dave8697 (Nov 21, 2008 12:16 pm) 
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Replying to: nippononly (Nov 21, 2008 8:03 am) Young People were not able to drive to their jobs or they were being laid off. Auto dealers were closing. You were unable to pay off your gas bill every month. And this was only for a short period of time. So tell me how things would be better if we were still paying over $4.00 a gallon because we had a $1.00 additional tax? Such a tax sounds punitive and we tossed things into a harbor for just such a tax on tea. The new secretary of finance said this is not the time to even think about taxing ourselves. Now what he will do after getting in office may be a different matter but speaking to the people before he is appointed that was his wisdom. Some in this forum have said we should be happy to pay $4 or $5 a gallon because Europe has been doing so for a long time. But there is a price to pay for that. Europe's standard of living is an average 10k less than the US, looking at the CIA world government page. So what reason would someone have for suggesting an additional 50 cent fuel tax at this time? One that could be sold to the voters. Let me ask the rest of the people in this forum. How many would like to pay an additional 50 cents to a dollar on top of your fuel prices today? How many would support such a move? |
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Replying to: boaz47 (Nov 21, 2008 1:50 pm) If this makes sense to anybody, and I don't know if it does tell me what you think, I believe that they could get away with raising the taxes on gas with one big factor. It could go in the reverse of the price. As the price goes up the tax would come down so that people could still afford it. For me $0.50 at $4.00 is going to be a bigger problem than $0.50 at $1.70. I couldn't say by how much it should decrease as the wholesale price increases, but that is my idea. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not dumb and I know that the arrangement above would never happen, but that is how I think it could work. Until that one condition would be worked out I wouldn't support it. |
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Replying to: nippononly (Nov 20, 2008 3:33 pm) Well of course they would. Why do you think they would have done otherwise? We certainly have discretionary driving that can be cut back. And if gas prices do get too high, some people are literally forced to stop driving; just as the price today keeps some from owning a car and driving. So I really don't see what long-term purpose a slightly different amount of consumption makes. Making some lower income people "hurt" by paying an artificially high (beyond the road needs) is not a good idea. We should be trying to have the best lifestyle we can. If you want to suggest ways to reduce gasoline I would suggest we reduce our consumption of foreign goods - especially from China, reducing the growth of vehicles there and the gasoline they use there. My goal would be for more oil and gasoline to flow to me and this country by making and keeping the $ here - winning the global economic competition. |
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Replying to: boaz47 (Nov 21, 2008 1:50 pm) But why would we still be paying over $4/gallon? Right now I would be paying $2.59/gallon. And chances are that if we had had a gas tax for the last decade, we wouldn't have paid $4 any time this year. But never mind, it seems the concept of sustainability is getting lost in a rising tide of we-want-everything-as-cheap-as-possible-future-be-damned here, so I am calling it quits. But don't forget, that attitude has led to the Walmartization of America, and the extinction of most American manufacturing. Sometimes paying a little more for something now can save a lot of money and heartache down the line....
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Replying to: boaz47 (Nov 21, 2008 1:50 pm) If I were certain that government would use the tax money to free us from depending on foreign fuel I might be willing to make the sacrifice even though I am one of the "poor" people who would be most impacted. The trouble is I don't trust the "government" to EVER do the right thing with my taxes. I would hate to starve and sacrifice only to see some fat cat corporation or radical activist group live large on my dime. A good example is the New York State Thruway Authority. When built in the 1950s tolls were charged to pay off the bonds used to fund the project. The bonds were paid of in 1996 but the tolls remain even though by keeping them we lose millions in federal highway funds. Recently, as drivers conserved gas and drove less the Authority tried to boost tolls because "people weren't paying enough". This is the mind-set of the political class, always take more, never give up anything. Screw the public while spinning it as "for your own good". More taxes for anything? No thanks. 
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National average for gas has dropped below $2 a gallon. I can't remember who said it, but didn't someone here say that would never happen? EVER? 
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Replying to: boaz47 (Nov 21, 2008 1:50 pm)
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Replying to: oldfarmer50 (Nov 22, 2008 5:53 am) I am fortunate enough that it would not make much difference to me financially. I am with you on not trusting our government to do anything they say. Our Congress is controlled by the big money lobbyist. This current mess is a prime example of several entities sending Congress in dozen of directions and NONE of them good. I am pleasantly in shock that gas in San Diego is selling for $1.84 per gallon. I would say the $2 figure may be safe at least until the economy gets better. I am not optimistic that will happen for several years. I am just hoping it does not go so deep I have to sell Krugerrands to survive. There will be massive crime & starvation if that happens.
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Replying to: gagrice (Nov 22, 2008 8:02 am) Looks like voting in the last Congress actually resulted in energy price relief eh? 
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