Re: How much are we paying for a gallon of gas?

From: charliew2 (charliew_at_ev1.net)
Date: 12/21/04 

Date: Tue, 21 Dec 2004 11:04:07 -0600

"Alex Terrell" <alexterrell@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:d81e59c9.0412050911.7875b4bd@posting.google.com...
> "Tom Simonds" <tsimonds@theworld.com> wrote in message
news:<cotgqv$djs$1@pcls4.std.com>...
> > We pay about $1.50 for a gallon of gasoline at the service station. But
> > the real price of gas is much higher and camouflaged by myriad direct
> > and indirect costs associated with maintaining our oil economy. How much
> > are you actually paying for gas? Take a closer look at the hidden bills
> > footed by your taxes: http://www.iags.org/costofoil.html
>
> We pay about $6 in the UK, due to high taxes, probably the highest in
> the world. Most people are against paying this, when asked some
> question like "Would you like to pay less for your fuel?"
>
> Of course a better question might be: "Would you like to pay less for
> your fuel and more on income tax?".
>
> In general it makes sense to tax gasoline more, because countries
> should tax what they want less of (pollution, terrorism funding,
> traffic congestion) and reduce taxes on what they want more of
> (income, savings etc).
>
> If the USA taxed gasoline higher, and used the proceeds to reduce
> taxes on the poorest people, what would be the effect? Assume this was
> done gradually, so people have time to adjust.

There would be very little effect. The poorest people aren't paying much in
taxes. If you instead advocated taking tax dollars and giving it to the
poorest people, this would definitely have an effect. Unfortunately, it
would also encourage non-work, so the final outcome would probably not be
good.

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