This article (Click for the article) kind of upset me a little this morning as I read it. With gas prices already creeping up over $5.00/gal in some places, an extra $0.50/gal tax add-on won't help matters any. Some may feel "It's only an extra $5.00 - $10.00 at the pump per tank, what's the big deal?" The big deal, in my opinion, is that it doesn't only affect commuters and road trip junkies; it, quite obviously, affects anyone with a vehicle that requires fuel. And as far as I know, there aren't too many vehicles out there that don't require fuel. That includes cars, motorcycles, ships, trains, planes, and the like. So what does that mean?All it takes is a little bit of 'Googling' to find the results of the rising gas prices. One example, of the many, comes from a recent article posted by a few different news agencies. (Click here for the article in the Salt Lake Tribune) The headline for this particular article reads, "Delta to cut jobs, two SLC routes amid rising fuel prices." Delta is cutting 2,000 jobs in hopes to save a few bucks to off-set the rising prices of fueling it's fleet. It has also offered a buyout plan to 30,000 of its' employees. That is over half of its' workforce. (See also CNN)
That's one big example, but it is par for the course. Shipping costs are higher which in turn raises the prices for goods or services. And because shipping costs are higher, businesses have to find ways of cutting back, which in many cases means layoffs. Layoffs increase the unemployment rate, which in turn hurts the economy, and, especially amidst threat of a recession, that's not great news.
But it's all in the name of environmental progression, so it's okay. I agree that we haven't been the best stewards of our environment, but to be honest, I don't feel that I've contributed much to 'destroying' our planet. I throw my trash in the trash can. I don't smoke. I sometimes pick up others' trash that they have left. I have yet to donate money to an environmental cause, but how much of the money that is going to be made by an additional tax on fuel is going to be contributed strictly to healing our planet.
I did a rough calculation off of data found on the Energy Information Administrations website.
Americans use roughly 377,608,500 gallons of gasoline per day. Calculated at, we'll say, $3.00/gallon, that equals roughly $1.13 billion dollars a day which is about $413 billion dollars/year. Adding $0.50 per gallon onto that we average about $1.32 billion dollars a day, equalling approximately $483 billion dollars/year. That's a difference of $70 billion dollars. (View source)
If they want to put all of that $70 billion towards the environment in ways that we, the people, approve (as it's our money that is paying for it) go ahead and raise the price, otherwise stay out of our pocket books... as if roughly 30% (more for some) of our paycheck wasn't enough.
