Taxing Gas

Does anyone really think that if the gas tax is temporarily repealed that we'll really see a corresponding drop in gas prices? The $3.00 taboo has been broken. Now that that genie is out of the bottle and the oil companies know that we'll pay -- most of us have little alternative. It seems to me that, if the prices don't go down it's becomes a choice between putting that extra twenty-one cents a gallon into bridges and roads or into the pockets of oil barons.

Of course, Bradley Jones's bill is really just a trap for Democrats in the Legislature. Get them on the record voting against a tax cut and run against that next November. It's pretty standard fare for Republicans. The curious part about it, though, is Governor Romney's reaction to all this. Unlike Georgia's Governor, Sonny Perdue, who signed an executive order today that canceled gas taxes for a month, Romney didn't even know that there was a plan to do the same in Massachusetts when questioned by a reporter. He called it "crazy" at the time, saying it would "create additional incentives to use more gasoline and energy." He had to call the reporter back, presumably after he found out about Jones's bill, to clarify that he would sign a bill if it crossed his desk but said that, its "not the answer and it's not something that I'm going to be campaigning for." A stunning example of leadership. No wonder the Boston Phoenix is looking for a governor.