Mike Berry column: Is suspending gas tax a good idea? Maybe not
Suspending gas taxes a good idea? Maybe not
President Biden wants to declare a new holiday.
Not Juneteenth, which is observed on June 19 (or on the 20th if the 19th falls on a Sunday, as it did this year) and commemorates the day that slaves in Texas were informed by a Union general that the Civil War was over and all the slaves were freed.
Biden now wants Congress to declare a three-month “holiday” from federal gasoline taxes.
Along with a call on states to declare similar suspensions of their gas taxes, Biden’s tax holiday idea is his answer to soaring gas prices, which now average more than $5 a gallon throughout the country.
There are two reasons why I think the gas tax holiday wouldn’t be a very good idea:
The price at the pump would still be high even if the feds and the states all stopped collecting their taxes for a while. But the president apparently figures the symbolic move of suspending the taxes might make people feel a little better about the economy. (And maybe raise his approval ratings above the mid-30s.)
Unlike many state and federal taxes, the gasoline taxes are earmarked for a specific purpose: Building new roads and bridges, and fixing existing ones.
Kewaneeans read an excellent piece of news in their Star Courier this week: Repairs are finally being made on the heretofore-horrendous Red Adams Road. This is very welcome news for people who travel regularly through the west side of Kewanee.
Also on the schedule are a number of smaller street repair projects throughout Kewanee. And city officials hope to do larger projects, such as fixing East McClure Street and Main Street north of the railroad tracks.
The smaller projects are part of the city’s annual summer street maintenance program. They’re paid for with money the city gets from the state’s Motor Fuel Tax (the official name for the tax on gasoline).
Larger projects could be addressed with the use of federal money allocated to the city by the Illinois Department of Transportation. That money comes from the federal gas taxes that Biden wants to suspend for three months.
Even if the federal (18.4 cents per gallon) and state (39.2 cents) taxes were temporarily suspended, a visit to a filling station would still be a swift kick in the wallet.
But if the state and federal transportation departments weren’t receiving the taxes, it would mean lower Motor Fuel Tax checks for cities, counties and townships. And fewer big checks from the feds for major local road projects.
And yet more reason for Kewanee drivers to complain when they hit rough pavement.
So if saving a little at the pump means postponing badly-needed street repairs, I think I’d prefer paying what I’m paying now for gas.
Even if it’s more than $5 a gallon.
This article originally appeared on Star Courier: Mike Berry column: Is suspending gas tax a good idea? Maybe not