newsobserver.com projects - Has the gas tax played out? - Comments

Re: The job

ryanteaguebeckwith — Thu, 08 May 2008 21:09:34 -0400

You're cynicism is corrosive. I've explained before that my job doesn't make any money for old man McClatchy. And what do you have against free markets, anyway?

— RTB

The job

James_Protzman — Thu, 08 May 2008 19:45:32 -0400

is actually to make money for the corporation. Gotta love those free markets!

Re: Has the gas tax played out?

gercohen — Thu, 08 May 2008 19:29:56 -0400

Tim Russert speculated primary night on MSNBC that Clinton's gas tax holiday helped Obama as it knocked Pastor Wright out of the news cycle. Who knows.

Re: Has the gas tax played out?

dahedgehog — Thu, 08 May 2008 18:22:16 -0400

If you understand it, you should write it somewhere other than in the comments section. Not everyone understands that point, and your job is to help people become better informed on the issues.

Re: Has the gas tax played out?

ryanteaguebeckwith — Thu, 08 May 2008 16:49:15 -0400

I understand that, but that doesn't mean voters wouldn't like to see the gas tax go away.

— RTB

Re: Has the gas tax played out?

dahedgehog — Thu, 08 May 2008 16:45:05 -0400

Are you just trying to make my head explode?

What will it take for you to understand that, with refineries working at capacity, a "gas tax holiday" will NOT lower gas prices for consumers?

Has the gas tax played out?

ryanteaguebeckwith — Thu, 08 May 2008 15:32:09 -0400

The gas tax is the perfect foil for a candidate.

Gas is pretty much a necessity, especially in road-centric North Carolina. It's one of the few commodities whose prices you see in foot-high numbers when buying. And few voters seek a direct link between the gas tax and the roads and other things it pays for.

So it's not surprising that reducing gas taxes has been a political staple for decades.

In 1982, U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms filibustered against a federal gas-tax hike backed by President Reagan. In his landmark 1984 race against Jim Hunt, Helms hammered the governor for having proposed raising the state gas tax.

But recent attempts to use the gas tax for political advantage have fallen flat.

Two years ago, Salisbury attorney Bill Graham spent $2.3 million of his own money to lead an advocacy group calling for capping the state's gas tax. The legislature capped the tax, but Graham was never able to parlay the crusade into a credible campaign for governor.

At the same time, Hillary Clinton (pace John McCain) hammered on the idea of a federal "gas-tax holiday" while campaigning in North Carolina and Indiana.

Her rival, Barack Obama, fought back, arguing the proposal was a "gimmick" and holding it up as an example of "typical of how Washington works."

Has the gas tax played out? Probably not. High gas prices remain a concern for consumers and no tax is ever really all that popular. But the recent elections indicate that it's not enough of a campaign issue to win an election on its own.