It's the Jobs Stupid: Gas Tax Holiday Jobs/$$ Lost by State, 150 Economists Write Letter

[rust1d]

Excerpted from Daily Kos: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/5/3/65227/97777/281/508229

John McCain and Hillary Clinton have suggested suspending Federal Taxes on all Gasoline/Diesel sold between Memorial Day (5/26) and Labor Day (9/1) this year. According to the American Road & Transportation Builders Association, this "Gas Tax Holiday" will lower tax revenue for infrastructure by roughly $9 billion and potentially cost 300,000 highway construction jobs. The highway trust fund that the gas tax finances provides money to states and local governments to pay for road and bridge construction, repair and maintenance.

State            Jobs       Federal Highway Funds
North Carolina   7,071 Jobs  $203 Million
Indiana          6,390 Jobs  $183 Million
Oregon           2,881 Jobs   $82 Million
Kentucky         4,298 Jobs  $123 Million
Montana          2,348 Jobs   $67 Million
South Dakato     1,623 Jobs   $46 Million
West Virginia    2,691 Jobs   $77 Million
===========================================
America         310,750 Jobs  $8.9 Billion

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/5/3/65227/97777/281/508229">

To speak out against this bad idea, 150 economists have http://www.jabberwonk.com/flinker.cfm?cliid=2qun5">written a letter opposing the gas tax holiday.

An Open Statement Opposing Proposals for a Gas Tax Holiday

In recent weeks, there have been proposals in Congress and by some presidential candidates to suspend the gas tax for the summer. As economists who study issues of energy policy, taxation, public finance, and budgeting, we write to indicate our opposition to this policy. Put simply, suspending the federal tax on gasoline this summer is a bad idea and we oppose it.

There are several reasons for this opposition. First, research shows that waiving the gas tax would generate major profits for oil companies rather than significantly lowering prices for consumers. Second, it would encourage people to keep buying costly imported oil and do nothing to encourage conservation. Third, a tax holiday would provide very little relief to families feeling squeezed. Fourth, the gas tax suspension would threaten to increase the already record deficit in the coming year and reduce the amount of money going into the highway trust fund that maintains our infrastructure.

Signers of this letter are Democrats, Republicans and Independents. This is not a partisan issue. It is a matter of good public policy.

Henry Aaron, Brookings Insitution
Gilbert Metcalf, Tufts University

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/5/3/65227/97777/281/508229">Click For Full List

I have written a simple javascript http://www.jabberwonk.com/flinker.cfm?cliid=13lkzo">on-line calculator to make it easy for anyone to see just how much they would stand to save during this so called "Holiday". With Indiana and North Carolina voting in a few days, everyone should take the time to send this link to anyone you know living in those states.

http://www.jabberwonk.com/flinker.cfm?cliid=13lkzo">

[Bensthename]

1. Again, Hillary doesnt believe in math, she believes in miracles.

[K Gardner]

2. Those economists don't know anything ! Hillary is going to single-handedly SAVE US from BIG OIL !

What's wrong with you !!??

:sarcasm:

[K Gardner]

3. Friedman, NY Times: "This is Money Laundering"

New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman explains, "This is money laundering: we borrow money from China, ship it to Saudi Arabia and take a little cut for ourselves as it goes through our gas tanks. When the summer is over, we will have increased our debt to China, increased our transfer of wealth to Saudi Arabia."

[Honeycombe8]

4. Good post. Unfortunately, this sort of stunt works w/a lot of voters who aren't informed.

They don't watch much news, they hear soundbites and snippets. This is the group she's aiming for.

[EmperorHasNoClothes]

5. Who cares if someone loses their job, or the highways fall apart?

I WANT MY 25 DOLLAR TAX CUT, DAMNIT!!!!


:sarcasm:, obviously

[K Gardner]

7. Like this...

[Ichingcarpenter]

6. She promised me a pony damn it.. I want my pony!

She said they were alive and real!

[RiverStone]

8. And all those jobs are worth 1/2 tank of gas --- for the whole summer?

And I drive a Honda.

What a classic case of bait and switch!

Thanks for the very informative post! :hi:

[watrwefitinfor]

9. ..

[killbotfactory]

10. How many votes can you buy for thirty bucks?

Especially when the price of everything goes up along with the price of oil?

[Usrename]

11. There's no evidence at all that we will save any money.

All this assumes that the distributors that collect the tax will give it back to us. I don't think they will.

It doesn't even make sense.