Well, yeah that too. If the govt. is so worried about these rising prices, they should put a moratorium on the 18% taxes per gallon!!
I'll grant that the states don't use all of the money that they rake off from the gas tax on Road Upkeep, but the poster's point was that the gas tax is one of the few taxes that actually works correctly.
I hadn't thought about it in those terms, and I'm inclined to agree.
First, the federal gas tax is $0.184 / gallon, not 18%.
Second, how do you propose to pay for the roads if not through the gas tax? Although I have problems with the way some of the gas tax money is skimmed off for public transit boondoggles and how some of the money is sequestered in the highway trust fund to hide part of the deficit, in general the gas tax is the fairest tax we have. If you burn gasoline you are 99% likely to be using it to drive on the government owned roads. Those who drive the most pay the most. This is opposed to using the "from each according to his ability" income tax or an inefficient tax per mile requiring government inspectors to check your odometer regularly.
Neal wants to add a 30% federal sales tax to the price of a gallon of gas. As far as I know, his plan does not propose to remove the federal or state excise taxes.