Gas Tax

It seems most states collect a gasoline tax based on a percentage of sale but the federal gas tax is a set $ amount per gallon. I found an informative article, History of the Gasoline Tax, written by Dr. Buechner.

"From 1932, when Congress first enacted an excise tax on gasoline, until 1956, the proceeds of the gas tax went into general revenues, although the amount raised each year was used as an informal benchmark for Federal highway spending. The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 established the Highway Trust Fund and stipulated that 100% of the gas tax be deposited into the fund. From 1956 to 1982, the Highway Trust Fund was used solely to finance expenditures from the federal highway program.
Highway Trust Fund revenues were first allocated to mass transit in the Surface Transportation Act of 1982, when Congress raised the gas tax from four cents per gallon to nine cents per gallon and dedicated one cent, or 20 percent, of the increase to the newly-established Mass Transit Account. Each time there has been an increase in the amount of gas tax going into the Highway Trust Fund—1990, 1993 and 1997—20 percent of the increase has been allocated to the Transit Account and 80 percent to the Highway Account. Of the current gasoline tax of 18.3 cents per gallon, 2.86 cents per gallon is allocated to the Mass Transit Account."

I was thinking the Fed tax was a percentage rate and it could be lowered as a % of a larger amount yields a larger amount. But, since it is a set $ per gallon, the revenues from this tax will go down as folks drive less.

Maybe the Dems are just blowing smoke to get votes. Real answers include drilling our own resources now.

Hillary was quoted as saying President Bush is to blame as he has let oil prices increase from $20 to $120 per barrel. I would ask, what has she been smoking?

'til later