- comment
Jim-the Classical Liberal (Views from the Right) - body
- Shaun--
Beware of unintended consequenses...
Artificially lowering prices by taking away the tax temporarily will likely spur increased demand and higher prices!!! (price falls below equilibrium, perceived as 'bargain', equals increased demand, which leads to lower supply, which leads to increased price). Imagine the price shock when the tax is reinstated! This is populism at its worst and bad public policy.
The real problem is that we are overtaxed period (the gas tax is actually one of the least offenders, at 18.4 cents per gallon for the last 15 years, when adjusted for inflation it has effectively fallen 31.9 percent per gallon...in 1993 it made up 17.2% of the price of gasoline, in 2007 it made up 6.6% of the price--and even less now--oh how I wish the rest of my taxes had fallen 32 percent!).
Populism is a dangerous thing...instead of playing with the gasoline tax, McCain should be announcing reducing the income tax and other taxes which are the real culprits...allowing each taxpayer keep more (not the silly 'stimulus package' populism either). Reduce the government's footprint and the confiscation of earnings.
- comment Shaun Kenney
- body
- Jim!
You're blogging!!! Or at least used to blog!
START BLOGGING AGAIN!
- comment Jeremy
- body
- I agree with Jim. Besides, the true price of gas is already much lower than it would be if the full costs involved with bringing it to the consumer were factored in, including the foreign policy and military expenses, environmental externalities and damages, and the markup from speculators made possible by the subsidized and cartelized market.
The problem with having a top heavy, regimented, regulated system that we have here in the states is that it becomes a big unwieldy tower of interconnected regulations and rules. Removing one imbalances the whole pile. Republicans who truly want lower prices and more competition would do well to seek the wholesale dismantling of the regulatory cartel, or at least a massive simplification thereof. What we need is stability and a market that people can understand instead of a hugely complex system that favors those with the money to buy and understand the regulations.
3 Comments:
Beware of unintended consequenses...
Artificially lowering prices by taking away the tax temporarily will likely spur increased demand and higher prices!!! (price falls below equilibrium, perceived as 'bargain', equals increased demand, which leads to lower supply, which leads to increased price). Imagine the price shock when the tax is reinstated! This is populism at its worst and bad public policy.
The real problem is that we are overtaxed period (the gas tax is actually one of the least offenders, at 18.4 cents per gallon for the last 15 years, when adjusted for inflation it has effectively fallen 31.9 percent per gallon...in 1993 it made up 17.2% of the price of gasoline, in 2007 it made up 6.6% of the price--and even less now--oh how I wish the rest of my taxes had fallen 32 percent!).
Populism is a dangerous thing...instead of playing with the gasoline tax, McCain should be announcing reducing the income tax and other taxes which are the real culprits...allowing each taxpayer keep more (not the silly 'stimulus package' populism either). Reduce the government's footprint and the confiscation of earnings.
You're blogging!!! Or at least used to blog!
START BLOGGING AGAIN!
The problem with having a top heavy, regimented, regulated system that we have here in the states is that it becomes a big unwieldy tower of interconnected regulations and rules. Removing one imbalances the whole pile. Republicans who truly want lower prices and more competition would do well to seek the wholesale dismantling of the regulatory cartel, or at least a massive simplification thereof. What we need is stability and a market that people can understand instead of a hugely complex system that favors those with the money to buy and understand the regulations.
Post a Comment
Home