I just wrote a check to the IRS (now the U.S. Department of the Treasury) for over $14,000.00. A tax on doing well by risking my own money in the stock market. My property tax this year is over $6,000.00. My homeowners insurance is over $5,000 and my flood insurance is $1,500.
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Fed Income Tax: $14,000
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Property Tax: $ 6,000
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Homeowner Ins: $ 5,000
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Flood Ins: $ 1,500
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Total Bill: $26,500
This is a portion of what it costs me to live in the sunny state of Florida, part of the great and powerful United States of America. And you, Mr. Smarty Pants Politician, are going to give me a 18.5 cent break on my gas? What?
I agree with editorial writer Kathleen Ingley who says:
Suspending the federal gas tax, as Sen. John McCain proposes, sounds so great. And makes so little sense. The 18.4-cent-a-gallon tax, which hasn’t risen in years, is a sliver of current prices. If you used 50 gallons a week, you’d save a paltry $9. But the overall impact would be huge: America would lose millions needed to maintain our aging highway system. The cost-benefit equation adds up only if you’ve been sniffing fumes at the pump.
The problem is that the ol’ bait and switch will probably work.
2 responses so far ↓
Darrin Mish // April 19, 2008 at 4:04 pm
As a fellow Floridian and tax lawyer I feel qualified to comment. Although I’m always happy to pay less tax, I question how sane it is to have another gas tax holiday this summer. The state budget is already in disarray and losing those millions will only serve to raise taxes on Florida citizens in other ways. At least taxing gas has some impact on behavior. Once it gets too expensive, I won’t drive my Ford F-150 with a huge V-8 25 miles to work each way, I’ll drive my wife’s much more sensible car. On the other hand, if due to a gas tax holiday, your county raises the millage rate on your property tax, you have no way to easily modify your behavior to avoid the tax. Now…before someone screams that what are poor people to do because it’s hard to get a different car, there is always public transportation. Yes, it’s inconvient but for the most part it exists. If you live in the suburbs and public transportation really is bad, maybe you should think about moving to a more urban area better suited for the use of public transportation.
John Palm // April 19, 2008 at 4:53 pm
Gas holiday will help NO ONE. Agreed.
I don’t know about the “behavior modification” part. I think the free market does that more efficiently than the U.S. Government.
Thanks for the comment. Scarcity of oil will weed out the SUV’s eventually… just a matter of time. Utility companies may be the big winners with more battery powered cars. Then we can worry about cost of coal and nuclear waste disposal.
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