The Time Is Now

So, is it too much to put another miracle atop the list of a new year's resolutions/wishes?

Tax on gas would be a great way to skinny in on the low prices, most people wouldn't bat an eye if a little padding was added to the current cost. For the time being OPEC has been castrated, and has lost its power to increase oil and gas prices in the face of a recession which is causing rapidly dropping global demand for crude. But, what the cartel cannot do, bureaucrats can. Tax upon petroleum products is not new . In 1932 when Congress first enacted an excise tax on gasoline the proceeds of the gas tax went into general revenues until 1956. The amount raised each year was used as an informal benchmark for Federal highway spending. The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 established the Highway Trust Fund and stipulated that 100% of the gas tax be deposited into the fund. From 1956 to 1982, the Highway Trust Fund was used solely to finance expenditures from the federal highway program. Highway Trust Fund revenues were first allocated to mass transit in the Surface Transportation Act of 1982, when Congress raised the gas tax from four cents per gallon to nine cents per gallon and dedicated one cent, or 20 percent, of the increase to the newly-established Mass Transit Account. Each time there has been an increase in the amount of gas tax going into the Highway Trust.

Gasoline is now below $1.60 a gallon? Should we wish for $5-a-gallon gas instead? With prices this low, isn't it time to find an alternative to the inflexible 14.5-cent-a-gallon motor fuel and petroleum product taxes now used to fund our highway, bridge and rail projects? Wouldn't a sales tax — based on some reasonable percentage — make more sense? As the economy grows, so would the revenue from this tax, as it does with the purchase of cars and fast food. Without reform, the transportation trust fund will continue to erode, as will our roads, bridges and rails. No one wants that, but where will the money come from? So why hasn't the Governator taken a look at this for California to set the precedence for the nation. Congress put together an advisory group called The National Commission on Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing. The purpose of this Commission is to determine if there will be enough tax money to keep American public roads in good condition. It determined that the deficit between revenue and expense was about $107 billion last year. (If you can't sleep, this is a great website to visit.)

Did I forget to mention the dream I had about the Govenator? No, not that dream of the X rated variety the other one where Governor Arnold Scharzenegger is at the podium addressing the fellow Citizens of the Great State of California, (to be read in an Austrian accent and don't forget to imagine the girly man pinky ring he always sports.)
The time is now for new taxes.. yes you heard that right, I the great republican govenator would see like to see the following legislation help ease the pain of the state checkbook.

Mini-Vans-This is an indirect tax on large families-Specifically bigoted "Pro-8" families. They are over-populating our already stressed planet with religious children and a mini-van tax should curb their overactive libidos. At least until the economy is back on track.

Drive-Thru tax on hamburgers and shakes. If you want to enjoy them you will be paying dearly. They fatten you first of all and second of all, if you eat in your car you will be polluting the environment. "Idling eaters" would be ticketed with double fines.
Double tax for the farmers too...we already know how much pollution those darn cows make. For farmers belching and gaseous cows and hogs could start costing them money if the federal proposal to charge fees for air-polluting animals becomes law. The EPA and the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2007 that greenhouse gases emitted by belching and flatulence amounts to air pollution. Really.

I wish I could remember the rest of the dream, but alas it's gone. Give some thought to it the next time you fill up the Yukon XL.