Gas tax is not at all leftist, just common sense. We have a trillion dollars in new debt from Bush plus most states are in the red. How do we pay it all off? Now, any tax is unpopular but a gas tax is a sin tax of sorts with benefits which balance the pain.
On one hand it's costly, on the other hand if you give incentives for making and buying more fuel efficient vehicles it pays for itself, and it can fund the clean fuels initiatives necessary to gradually get us off Arab oil altogether as well as pay down the debt. It also cuts pollution, promotes car-pooling and mass transit which means less highway conjestion, saves our wilderness areas and improves our balance of trade. Unfortunately none of these things Bushies like, want or are going to give us, whether there is a gas tax or not. It's too bad we need any taxes at all, but if we're ever going to progress as a nation and quit sucking on the teat of Arab oil, we need a long-term strategy which requires a little sacrifice short-term for long-term gains. The bottomline is the US just consumes too much damn oil. It's not sustainable and it's very wasteful. The other way to do it is tax gas guzzler vehicles and polluters, either way. Bushies protect the gas guzzlers and pollluters big-time so we have to get rid of Bush first. Anything against cleaner air, less terrorism and not having to fight wars in Arab countries?
I guess Bush's strategy is take over the entire Middle East and suck up their oil until it's gone. This idea is more realistic, earth-friendly and sustainable. |
