This Democrat Wants to Nearly DOUBLE the Gas Tax

With gas prices high this Idiot want to double the gas tax? wow that's thinking smart??

Tensions flared today when Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) appeared on “Your World with Neil Cavuto” to discuss his call for an increase in the federal gas tax — an increase that wouldnearly double it from its current rate of $0.18 a gallon to $0.33 a gallon.

Blumenauer thinks because the gas tax has not increased in 20 years and “we have run the gas tax trust fund down to where it’s approaching zero,” that now – in the middle of a recession – is a good time to pile on more tax burdens on struggling Americans.

He also cited that “people are driving less” as some sort of justification for the drastic tax increase. Right, because increasing this gas tax by almost 100% will make people want to drive more? According to him, if we don’t do it within the next ten months, the government will “face an inability to fund any transit funding.”

The federal government has already allocated tens of billions of dollars to improve our roads, bridges, and highways. While this proposed tax increase is not anything to bat an eye at, a bigger question remains: Where has that money gone?

After several failed attempts at retrieving a straight answer from Blumenauer about this, Cavuto grilled him:

“…You can’t guarantee me that the money that’s being allocated now through all these various systems – whether it’s set up locally, or by states, or the federal government – is going to its intended purpose.  They used to say these things about a “lock box” for Social Security. The money was raided. The money was stolen. … You are talking about doubling the gas tax and acting like it’s no big deal!”

So let’s get this straight: We have already “invested” tens of billions of dollars last year at every level of government to improve our roads, bridges, and highways. All of that money cannot (and most likely will not) be completely accounted for; nor can we get a straight answer as to where it’s gone. And, at the end of the day, our infrastructure – in Cavuto’s words – “still sucks.”

After all of this, we are all supposed to be okay with throwing even more money at it and crossing our fingers, hoping that if the gas tax is doubled, that money will actually be put to its intended use and not squandered away? If this were any business worth its salt, Mr. Blumenauer would be fired. 

But this is government we are talking about here, so it’s up to us to hold these people accountable. If you agree that doubling the gas tax is a horrible idea, help spread the word by sharing this article with your friends.

http://www.capitalisminstitute.org/double-gas-tax-cavuto/