Rising Gas Prices Take Their Toll (And Your Taxes)
According to The Los Angeles Times, “Americans are getting serious about using less gasoline.” To wit: one James Eric Freedner. The Sun Valley legal secretary got so fed up with high gasoline prices that he tucked his Toyota Tacoma in the garage, switched to motorcycle commuting, stopped driving to the beach on weekends and began grouping errands. "The price [of gas] was just eating up what I earned,” Freedner kvetched. “This is the best thing I can do to make ends meet." Point taken. "Raise the price high enough, and you will see that there is a lot more that people can do,” says Edward Leamer, an economist at UCLA. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) recently released study, The Effects of Gasoline Prices on Driving Behavior and Vehicle Markets, asserts rising gas prices has motorists taking fewer trips, driving slower and paying premiums for the most fuel-efficient vehicles. Your tax money hard at work.
Glenn is a baby-boomer, born in 1954. Along with his wife, he makes his home in Connecticut. Employed in the public sector as an Information Tedchnology Specialist, Glenn has long been a car fan. Past rides have included heavy iron such as a 1967 GTO, to a V8 T-Bird. In between those high-horsepower cars, he's owned a pair of BMW 320i's. Now, with a daily commute of 40 miles, his concession to MPG dictates the ownership of a 2006 Honda Civic coupe which, while fun to drive, is a modest car for a pistonhead. As an avid reader, Glenn enjoys TTAC, along with many other auto-realated sites, and the occasional good book. As an avid electronic junkie, Glenn holds an Advanced Class amateur ("ham") radio license, and is into many things electronic. From a satellite radio and portable GPS unit in the cars, to a modest home theater system and radio-intercom in his home, if it's run by the movement of electrons, he's interested. :-)
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Or has it? http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/europe-falling-behind-in-kyoto-carbon-targets/2007/06/15/1181414548676.html
Ride a bike. Down Gratiot. In Detroit. In February. Ok Freedner.
Raising gas prices hasn't changed my habits at all. And I'd appreciate it if people would stop throwing conservation ideas down my throat. Sorry, but February in northern Ohio doesn't lend itself to smarts and motorcycles. And increase my taxes and I'll just donate less of my paycheck.
Where I live, we are already facing a tax increase request for the city income tax, the school district wants higher taxes, and the County Mental Retardation Board wants a tax increase. I think the Senior Citizen Board wants one too. What I'm getting at is no matter how much you pay in taxes, it is never enough. All it does is take more money out of your pocket, and give Big Brother more resources in which to control and dominate your life.