Thursday, May 1, 2008
Why do they tax gas?
Presidential hopefuls John McCain and Hillary Clinton want to suspend the 18 cents a gallon Federal tax on gasoline - only for the Summer. Barack Obama wants to leave things the way they are. He thinks lowering the price might actually increase demand which would cause prices to go up. Something like that.
They should suspend the Federal gas tax. Not only for the Summer, but forever.
Why are they taxing gasoline? We buy gasoline not because it is some sort of luxury item that we reward ourselves with, but it is something we need to get us from one place to another. For better or worse, it is the fuel that we need to be productive citizens. The government shouldn’t be taxing the gas we buy, they should be taxing the income we earn. That’s something they already do.
I buy gas to put in my car so I can drive to work each day. If I didn’t have to buy gas, I would happily spend my money on something else.
Instead of arguing over whether or not the Federal gas tax should be suspended for the Summer, they ought to be discussing why gas was ever taxed in the first place.
Because the government is a business.
This post makes me laugh. Currently i live in UK. Here we pay 1-1.2£ [around 2 $] per liter [0.264 gallon] of gasoline. And most [65-70percent] of this money goes to government.
So be grateful you don’t have European politics and fight for your price of gasoline because its possible that your politics do know about situation in Europe and want to do the same in your country.
Sincerely
Rene Swiatek
Rene, how much do you pay monthly for health insurance? How much do you pay as a deductible every time you go to your primary health physician? How about when you visit a specialist?
My wife and I pay thousands of dollars a year for health insurance. Yesterday I had to go see my primary care physician where I had to pay a $30 co-pay. Was a sick? Heck no. I just needed a referral to see my dermatologist. Now that I have my referral, I will pay $40 in a co-pay when I see him because he is a specialist.
I have a problem with my skin called psoriasis. I’ve blogged about it. It’s a chronic medical condition I will have for the rest of my life. There is no cure. Seeing the dermatologist will be a part of my life for as long as I live. With that said, I will need to keep on going to see my primary care physician after every fourth visit to my dermatologist to get a new referral to make sure I really need to see them for my life long chronic and incurable skin condition. My insurance company now requires this hoop to be jumped through.
So yeah, you pay more taxes, but you get a lot more for your money. I don’t mind paying taxes. I wouldn’t even mind paying MORE taxes. I just want to get my money’s worth. Like you do.
Its popular misunderstanding that in European Union people don’t pay for health insurance or retirement pay. We pay. Much… Its 20-45 percent of our earnings - depending how much we earn. For insurance don’t have to pay only the poorest or unemployed. Rest of us pays for them. So even when you have insurance you may not get care you need because money for your medical care have been spent on other people [thank God that it happens only with more expensive procedures]. Because of this people who can afford this buys health or retirement insurance from private corporations. Still they have to pay national insurance. So its not so nice like lots of Americans thinks. Still i wouldn’t want to live in country of freedom…