Letters to the Editor
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Gas tax holiday bad for everybody
The gas tax is supposed to be funding the Highway Trust Fund. As mpg goes up -- saving consumers lots and lots of money in gas taxes per mile driven since the tax was initiated -- the amount of money socked away per wear-and-tear of each mile driven on our roadways goes down. The gas tax hasn't been raised in more than a decade and its buying power in labor and construction costs is only a fraction of what it was intended to be. Killing the gas tax during the time of year when it will generate the most income for fixing our crumbling infrastructure and when that crumbling infrastructure undergoes the most wear-and-tear is a shortsighted, dare I say stupid, idea. We all lose big time if the gas tax goes away. It should be raised so that we can actually fix our roads to the standard that was intended when it was begun.
My Honda Insight gets an avg 50mpg, so I pay very little gas tax per mile driven. It's also very light, so my car produces very little wear and tear on the road while driving. The owner of a Hummer creates much more wear and tear on the roads while driving that vehicle, and that vehicle sucks down much more gas per mile driven than mine does, so in that sense it works out fairly.