Gas Tax Is Small Potatoes To You – But Not To The Country!

J.J. Jackson* | July 29, 2008

Filed Under Conservative Musings, Taxes and Taxation

Liberals like Barack Obama moaned when it was proposed that there be a “holiday” from the federal gas tax for a couple months. One of his reasons against the idea was that it was really just small potatoes.

It is just $0.18 a gallon so for the average American filling up a normal car with a 16 gallon tank. This equates to $2.88 on a $63.84 (16 gallons @ $3.99/gallon) fill up. Not that big a deal right? Fill up once a week and a gas tax holiday for three months (12 weeks) you might save $22.56.

Yes, that certainly is small potatoes to you … but not to the country as a whole.

Liberals are experts at framing arguments in ways that downplay the importance of them. Consider that the United States on a daily basis consumes about 360 million gallons of gasoline (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gasoline). That means that each and every day $64,800,000 is taken out of the American economy and placed into government coffers. Multiply that by 365 days per year and $23,652,000,000 each year.

Now do you see how that $0.18 per gallon is not “small potatoes” any more?

That is 23 BILLION dollars every year stripped out of the American economy. When it is paid by the consumer it is money that is not spent on other goods and services or that is not saved for retirement. When it is paid for by companies shipping their products to mark it is money that the consumer is paying to offset the increased cost.

So next time someone tells you that repealing an $0.18 tax per gallon of gas is not “that big of a deal”, make sure to let them know that that $0.18 per gallon translates to $23 BILLION a year in increased costs to Americans – courtesy of the federal government.

Taxing us Americans is big business for the liberals in Congress. And they are very reluctant to let any of that money go. That is the real reason they oppose the gas tax “holiday”.

Contributor's website: http://www.libertyreborn.com

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