John McCain wants to suspend the federal gasoline tax, the 18.4 cents per gallon, between Memorial Day and Labor Day. This is going to save Americans a whopping 5% on their gas fill-ups. It hardly seems like a bold initiative, considering prices have gone up 22% in the past year. That road-tripping family of four will be able to eat at Applebees instead of McDonalds once or twice. They can stay one night at a Comfort Inn instead of a Sleep Inn. Meanwhile, there are a couple of free do-it-yourself actions to take to save over 5%.
Go 55 miles per hour. Your choice. Do it, and save 20% on your gasoline costs (versus going 75 MPH). Don’t do it, in the interest of saving time, taking advantage of the power of your vehicle that you’d otherwise waste, or perceived safety. Your choice. I find it difficult to go 55 on the highway for the latter reason. Everyone else on the road gets pissed when you go 55. If I could just find one other vehicle going 55 to tail, I’d feel a lot better.
Properly inflate your tires. There’s a 5% savings right there. Go to Sheetz in RTP; their free air pressure machine will automatically inflate to your specified PSI with the touch of a button.
You still want a gas tax break? I hope it’s not your car going over that collapsed bridge.
There’s no guarantee that the government is going to spend (or not spend) your tax money on roads and bridges, whether they levy the federal gas tax or not. But if you can’t afford to drive, it matters little from your perspective whether the bridge is going to collapse, because you’re unlikely to be on it.
If the feds did reduce or eliminate their tax on gasoline, I wonder how long it would take the states to hike their own gas taxes, which are already (generally) more than the federal tax. I imagine the states have more tax discretion, or at least probably can change their gas tax amount more quickly, than the feds. But I bet most states won’t want to increase their gas tax more right now. Nor will the feds.
Perhaps we should all take our “economic stimulus” money and buy reinforced concrete, or maybe just wooden 2x4s, and go prop up a bridge somewhere. But gods, you know, gas costs so much, I don’t think I want to load up my car with Quikrete and take it anywhere. I guess I’ll just sit at home in the dark.