Saturday, April 05, 2014

And The World Didn't End

I've been puzzled by the belief that increasing the gas tax would be political DOOM for everybody involved. There was a time when that might have been true, but given the level of gas prices and the degree of "normal" price fluctuations, I just don't see people really noticing.
Within five years, if wholesalers pass on the full increase to consumers, that could increase the gas tax by about 28 cents a gallon, from 31.2 cents a gallon in 2013 to 59.2 cents by 2018.

Of course some people will notice. It's a regressive tax, and people who don't have any money notice the price of anything. I just mean that it won't sweep people out of office.