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.
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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.