Gas Tax Fantasy

State Senator Andy Harris, concerned about rising gas prices, has suggested that Governor O'Malley call a special session of the General Assembly for the sole purpose of repealing the state gas tax from Memorial Day to Labor Day.

While his proposal has obvious political appeal, particularly to those short-sighted enough not to be able to see past Labor Day, there are a number of problems with the idea.

• The gasoline tax is the primary source of transportation funding in the state.  Reducing the gasoline tax will necessarily reduce the funding available for transportation improvements.  Roads in Maryland, particularly in the Baltimore/Washington area, are already heavily congested, which means a lot of gasoline is wasted waiting in traffic jams.  We need to reduce congestion, not increase it.
• Reducing the price of gasoline to the consumer will increase demand which will eventually increase the price not only of gasoline, but also of the oil from which it is derived.  Reducing or suspending the tax therefore puts more money into the hands of the oil-producing countries rather than keeping it here where it can be invested in improvements to our infrastructure.
• Suspending the tax merely postpones the inevitable.  Saving a few cents on a tank of gas does nothing to address the urgent need to find alternative sources of energy and use our existing sources more efficiently.

Andy Harris has proved he's as clueless about the economy as John McCain, who made a similar proposal on a national level which was panned by the a wide variety of economists and energy analysts for the same reasons I outline above. 

And why did Andy Harris wait until just a few days after the regular session ended to make this proposal?  Is it possible that this is just cheap political pandering?  Looks that way to me.

Comments

[ShoreThings]

The even more amusing part is that after the legislative session ended this year, the Maryland State House closed for repairs until 2009, so even if someone wanted to have a special session, they couldn't.