Odd twist and turn to the gas tax suspension proposals
I wrote last week about the ridiculous pandering going on by Sen. McCain and Sen. Clinton regarding a suspension of the federal gasoline tax during the summer travel season. I suggested then that it was idiotic for a variety of reasons.
Now I heard just a snatch on a radio news broadcast yesterday about a suggestion from our Republican Congressman here in my part of Missouri, Rep. Roy Blunt, on how we (i.e., the federal government) could cover the highway maintenance revenues such a tax recess would bring about. He proposes we simply cut money out of the many federal “earmarks” in funding bills to cover the difference. Or something like that, I only heard the last couple of sentences on the idea. I found one obscure Internet report about it.
Such a suggestion makes as much sense as trying natural acne treatment lotions to treat skin cancer. By that I mean, both diseases are those of the skin, but one is totally unlike the other.
I don’t understand all the ins-and-outs of federal funding bills. I do know that shuffling money around within the federal budget is the norm, not the exception. For all the money taken from “earmarks” (whatever those are) to cover gas tax revenue, you can be assured Congressmen and Senators who are counting on those funding earmarks will find ways to replace them, whether we know about it or not.
Heck, here’s a solution that makes just about as much sense as shuffling money we don’t have from one federal pocket to another: The federal government has the power to print money, so why not just have them run off a couple of hundred thousand extra bucks for all of us and put the check in the mail??
Oh, wait, we already did the “free money” thing with the economic stimulus plan, didn’t we? Hope that one works out.
Technorati Tags: federal gasoline tax suspension, economic stimulus, just a guy who reads the papers
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