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540 Comments
- Bub978, on 01/03/2009, -55/+355Nice headline. No sign of bias at all.
You know, like it or not, there are a lot of stupid people in this country. Tons of them. Gas just plummeted. A lot of them probably don't realize that it's going to start climbing again. Let's just see what happens when gas is below $2 for 6 months. Watch SUV sales. Watch half the country ***** the other half over by letting OPEC get a fresh hold on their testicles.
A larger gas tax would keep demand in check, and if you think prices aren't going to rise anyway, you're probably a global warming denier who lies to themself so you can sleep at night. Either our government forces the price of gasoline to what it will be in a year and keeps the money, or we just wait for it to happen on its own, and OPEC gets the money. Would you rather the money be spent on 60 year old bridges here in the states, or Iranian missile photoshopping? - Shogi, on 01/03/2009, -21/+281Here's a list of slightly less retarded ideas:
1. Stop wasting money on pointless wars.
2. Close tax loop holes.
3. Stop wasting money on rich ***** smears like those idiot ***** that ***** up our economy.
4. GET OFF OIL. - inactive, on 04/03/2009, -45/+218"A 50 percent increase in gasoline and diesel fuel taxes is being urged by the commission to finance highway construction and repair until the government devises another way for motorists to pay for using public roads."
If the roads are being use less, they probably shouldn't need as many repairs... - caerwyn, on 01/03/2009, -4/+170Actually, a good portion of the road wear isn't due to use- it's due to weather. That occurs regardless of how much people are driving.
- inactive, on 01/02/2009, -6/+152Just ask for a bailout. No problem.
- Stuart750, on 01/03/2009, -1/+119We can't kill the Special Victim's Unit!
- mac888, on 01/02/2009, -43/+152Tax the SVU into extinction.
- sporkmonger, on 01/03/2009, -17/+112Honestly, if anyone ever asks me to vote on an increased gas tax, I will absolutely vote for it. The higher the price of oil, the better off we are in the long run. Sucks in the short term, but nobody's going to change if it doesn't hurt their wallet.
- lagokc, on 01/03/2009, -1/+65Not to mention the damage done by cars is negligible compared to the wear and tear caused by commercial trucks.
- ordonator, on 01/03/2009, -12/+60I won't mind a higher gas tax as long as they're really going to put it towards energy independence. But lately I'm not sure any of my tax dollars are being put to good use.
- CrimsonBlur, on 01/03/2009, -14/+59The headline is inaccurate. Americans won't be punished for driving less, driving less means these taxes will affect them less, which means they will be *rewarded* for driving less. A higher gas tax will encourage even more people to stop insisting on using a gas-guzzling car to commute and will force more Americans look into the alternatives and demand innovation.
As long as this money will be put into alternative energy and expanding our mass transit systems, I think it's a great idea. A higher gas tax is good for this country in the long-run, and that's what we need to start focusing on. - absentmindedjwc, on 01/03/2009, -10/+52that isnt even the best part...
FTA: "At the same time, the commission will recommend tying the fuel tax rates to inflation."
Are you ***** kidding me? Don't tie anything else to inflation, like perhaps minimum wage.... price of gas goes up because of inflation, but John Q. Public is still making the same working at his minimum wage job... John can not afford to drive his car anymore because the government has spent every ***** dime they had, and is creating money like it is nothing. John is now making welfare because he lost his job because he could not get there, forcing the government to give out more money that they dont have.. forcing an increase in other taxes in order to pay John...
Tying the price of gas with inflation will make sure everyone is really effected, with the amount inflation has been going up in the recent past, expect a tax that is worth more than the damn gas.
I have a great idea... cut stupid programs that are *****, end the war on drugs (at least marijuana.... something that can at least be taxed and industrialized), or... gasp... lets end this damn war.....
(no matter what obama does, it will not have effect for a while.. not to mention it is the congress passing all this bailout ***** every ***** couple of months) - 1hen2ducks, on 01/03/2009, -17/+57Punish the poor. Raise prices.
- burninthepyre, on 01/03/2009, -4/+43Dugg for "Perhaps the government should just try managing its money better, too."
- ThinkOutTheBox, on 01/03/2009, -8/+45I think the description sums it up best, everybody else is cutting back and overlooking their finances and adjusting to live with less, the government on the other hand wants to spend more money and increase spending.
Does anybody else see something wrong with this picture? Besides they have been collecting taxes for decades for "bettering" our infrastructure, but our roads and bridges are still crumbling. Why is anybody falling for this line, again?
It also doesn't help that there is an Oil Cartel called OPEC that dictates what oil is going to do. - WNW3, on 01/03/2009, -4/+39Nah, the solution is FLYING ***** CARS!!!
(note: I'm using "*****" as an expletive, not a verb. As a verb that would be a bit terrifying.) - emjaymj, on 01/03/2009, -1/+35Flying cars? No thanks. People can barely drive in 2 dimensions as it is.
- Ysabetwordsmith, on 01/03/2009, -10/+44This is absurd. It's *good* for Americans to drive less.
- lead2thehead, on 01/03/2009, -3/+36Funny that "spending our tax money wisely" is never an option. It's always tax, tax, tax. Congress has the money management skills of a spoiled 16 year old with a credit card.
- snkscore, on 01/03/2009, -12/+45Hmmmm hello?
Anyone there???
If you raise the gas tax you are punishing the people who DRIVE MORE NOT DRIVE LESS!
Jesus Christ, it's like people are fricking stupid on the internet or something. - pak314, on 01/03/2009, -1/+33Worst infrastructure in the modern world? I guess you haven't traveled much.
- Kevin108, on 01/03/2009, -7/+32This is the curse that is the green movement. Just a few short months ago there was an article I read here on Digg about a city that had a critically low supply of drinking water. As usual, the city itself owned the water supply. When residents cut back their usage, the city decided it wasn't making enough revenue on water and raised rates. You've saved the world by paying more for less. You don't punish people for doing the right thing.
- firebat9er, on 01/03/2009, -12/+37exactly
- MrGiblets, on 01/03/2009, -11/+34I was expecting an Onion article. I'm gonna go have me a cry now...
- locojones, on 01/03/2009, -1/+22"But commission members said the government must find more road and bridge building money somewhere."
Hmmm, how about cutting bloated government spending for starters and using that money? I wonder where we could find billions of dollars being wasted that could go to infrastructure? Department of Homeland Security perhaps? The futile trillion dollar efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan? How about the trillion dollars we're pissing away on criminally reckless financial sectors? I'm tired of all this bitching and moaning about "we can't afford it" when there's always seems to be a blank check handy whenever the administrations' agendas call for it. - MvP1292, on 01/03/2009, -3/+24*SUV
- MvP1292, on 01/03/2009, -33/+53***** THE CONGRESS
- Dumbledorito, on 01/03/2009, -3/+23As opposed to higher fuel taxes for the idiots who buy SUVs so one person can drive a behemoth to work using three times the gas?
Brilliant. - BassMastr, on 01/03/2009, -4/+24Why not just make them much more fuel efficiant?
- lead2thehead, on 01/03/2009, -0/+19What did Southern Virginia University ever do to you?
- Bub978, on 01/03/2009, -4/+23Not much, my good man. Just preempting some ignorance.
- inactive, on 01/03/2009, -8/+27People are being laid off. It's tougher to put food on the table, and you guys on Digg, generally middle class suburbia, want higher taxes. It only hurts the poor. The rich can afford taxes, but they also create jobs. No to fungible taxes that generally get sent over seas for wars and no-bid contracts.
It's the government that you want to give your money to. The one that killed thousands of Iraqis for the last decade and funds Zionists and terrorists alike. - Paulish, on 01/03/2009, -3/+22Ironic. Seeing as the SUV was created to avoid the protectionist taxes that were placed on pickup trucks from overseas. Early SUVs were just pickup trucks with seats in the bed of the truck and a rudimentary covering. It changed the vehicles enough that they no longer fit the legal definition of a pickup truck.
Taxes caused the problem, and only more taxes can solve it! /s - snoogit, on 01/03/2009, -12/+30#4 won't happen without increasing the cost of gasoline anyway, best way to do that is through gas taxes. At least with raising gas taxes you know its going to an organization that will put that money back into something whereas if it went to a rich business man, or perhaps overseas, that money isn't seen here.
- Echosphere, on 01/03/2009, -10/+28Our economy is currently built on cheap gas.
Taxes
Roads
Public Service
Interstate
To change the model involves more thinking than solar panels and Dutch windmills.
***** - Sil369, on 01/03/2009, -6/+24solution: tax weather/mother nature and commerical trucks
- pathouston22, on 01/03/2009, -1/+19Raped by taxes?
/going to hell - ligyron, on 01/03/2009, -2/+19But Law & Order is my favorite show
- mwace, on 01/03/2009, -9/+25I don't like the way the word "punish" is used in the title.
- Bub978, on 01/03/2009, -13/+29You're wrong. It IS our ***** business. More SUVs means higher demand for gas, which means higher gas prices, more emissions, and more being the Saudis' bitch.
If you could just tell me which part of the free market aims to do something for the country as a whole, rather than itself, I'd happily admit that deterring SUVs is not in the government's jurisdiction. Because I'm pretty sure that the free market does what makes money, and the government, ideally, does what's best for it's people. That's why we have taxes, so there's money to be spent where money can't be made back. - Headinawheel, on 01/03/2009, -2/+16You live in an area without paved roads? BTW: 4-Wheel Drive exists on cars that aren't 5 MPG guzzlers, you know.
- michelsonmorley, on 01/03/2009, -7/+20So we can't have the same budget that we had 6 years ago? They want to raise taxes on gas even though it might end up the same price it was six months ago in six months.. This sounds like a great way to spur the economy (/s).
- geoboy, on 01/03/2009, -1/+14A tax hike on energy during the worst recession in decades. Brilliant!
- AshVelveteen, on 01/03/2009, -3/+16I guess he meant first world. It's definitely true that compared to its peers American infrastructure sucks.
- Teradoc, on 01/03/2009, -9/+22America needs an intercity rail system more than more money poured down into the insatiable hole that is highway repair/expansion.
- chrisemc, on 01/03/2009, -1/+13This is especially ridiculous based on the movement in Oregon to tax driver mileage not gas
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5 ... - snoogit, on 01/03/2009, -1/+13Alcohol, Tobacco...
- greensky, on 01/03/2009, -0/+12and the gas tax also taxes the people who drive the least efficient vehicles more (see Hummers, etc.)
- shedourskin, on 01/03/2009, -0/+12You want higher gas prices without tax hikes? The US spends $100-200 billion per year protecting gas reserves and pipelines around the world. Why should the US military and tax payer be burdened by this, and not the oil companies? Oil companies take on this expense, production costs increase, gas prices rise, demand falls, alternatives surface.
It ain't perfect, but it's better than tax hikes, which are near impossible to repeal. - DiggRage, on 01/03/2009, -2/+13Americans want cars and roads, and they have to pay for them somehow. What do you expect? Nobody wants transit, they want their cars. I take transit when I can, and therefore gas tax increases won't hurt me so much I suppose. But our entire transportation infrastructure is built on cars, and guess what, that takes tons of money for roads, highways, interchanges, overpasses, dozens of lanes, etc. Everyone seems to want their own plot of land in suburban sprawl, and transit doesn't work well there. The problem is complex, but it is a fact that American lifestyle in the suburbs, our city structure, and all related to it costs a ton of money. There is no easy solution, but I'm sick of people bitching about it. You want cars as your only way around, well, guess what, it is inefficient, expensive, and unless Americans change their perspective on how cities are designed, it has to be paid for...so I'm tired of people bitching about it...
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