Gas prices are down, so hold on to your wallets!

Taxes Ahead

Almost right on queue, the liberals are coming out of the woodwork—the “pest” reference is deliberate—to announce that it’s time for you and I to step up to the plate and hand over more of our money.

Joining a growing movement, an opinion piece by the Denver Post Editorial Board details how the recent bout of dropping fuel prices presents the perfect opportunity to raise gas tax rates in order to help the country’s neglected highway systems. They give the following reasons:

  • Most forecasters, including the federal government, say that lower gas prices are likely to continue.

And as we all know, when the government makes a projection, they always get it right. *cough* Obamacare *cough*

  • Current gas prices should make this the perfect time for Americans and politicians—I guess they’re saying politicians aren’t Americans, which is actually pretty close to accurate—to agree to pay the piper and raise the tax.

Ah yes, the old “paying taxes is the American thing to do.” I’m surprised they didn’t drag out Joe Biden’s old “paying more taxes is patriotic.”

  • The pain from raising gas taxes now will be less obvious than when gas was over $3.

I guess basic math escapes the geniuses on the Denver Post Editorial Board. As a percentage, it would be MORE obvious, not LESS. Besides, if this is such a great idea, why do they need to hide the “obvious?” Maybe they can get Nancy Pelosi to present some legislation for their idea. She loves to pass bills to find out what’s in them.

  • The tax has been frozen for more than two decades, and vehicles have become more fuel-efficient over that time. This has created a funding “imbalance.”

Wait a minute! I thought that’s what liberals have insisted on for years. Wasn’t it Obama who used his dictatorial powers to mandate even higher fuel efficiency standards a few years ago? So now that Americans are doing what you want, you want to punish them for it?

The DP editors are concerned that it might be a little bit difficult to get a Republican-led Congress to pass a tax hike, but don’t you believe it even for a second. It was just this past weekend that Senate Commerce Chairman, Sen. John Thune (R-INO SD), made the rounds on the Sunday talk show circuit. When asked by Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday if he would consider raising taxes to pay for increased spending, Thune refused to rule it out. Sen. Bob Corker (R-INO TN), who was also on FNS, has already proposed a 12 cents per gallon tax increase.

In a lame attempt to appear compassionate, the DP editors offered a “creative” idea to protect Americans from future hardships. They suggested installing a “trigger point” to remove the tax if oil prices rose to where they were before they started to decline. Yeah, I’m sure that’ll happen.

The bottom line is this: hold on to your wallets. Because the big-government, big-spending, liberal progressives—and they’re in both parties—are coming for those dollars you thought you were saving.

Don’t believe me? Just Google “higher gas taxes” and see what comes up.