McCain throws me a bone

Echoing something I've been saying for awhile each time gas prices reached a new high, GOP Presidential candidate John McCain pitched a common-sense idea. From an AP story by Liz Sidoti:

To help people weather the downturn immediately, McCain urged Congress to institute a "gas-tax holiday" by suspending the 18.4 cent federal gas tax and 24.4 cent diesel tax from Memorial Day to Labor Day. By some estimates, the government would lose about $10 billion in revenue. He also renewed his call for the United States to stop adding to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and thus lessen to some extent the worldwide demand for oil.

Combined, he said, the two proposals would reduce gas prices, which would have a trickle-down effect, and "help to spread relief across the American economy."

Aides said McCain's Senate staff was drafting a bill on the proposal. It's likely to face strong opposition not only from Congress but the states. The federal gasoline tax helps pay for highway projects in nearly every town through a dedicated trust fund. In the past, such proposals for gas tax holidays have not fared well as lawmakers and state and local officials prefer not to see changes in their revenue source.

I beg to differ, the federal gas tax is placed in a general government fund just like the rest of our tax money; (okay, it does go into its own fund but the next point is correct...)further, a lot of it is dumped into mass transit, bikeways, and other non-highway construction areas. If the government "loses" $10 billion in revenue, then they can just go ahead and cut something. It's better to have the money in our pockets and not theirs as far as I'm concerned.

Apparently, at least in this regard, candidate McCain is making a start. He may just as well take a fiscally conservative stance because even with the somewhat timid moves he announced yesterday, the Democrat reaction was predictable:

Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton said McCain's proposals offer "no change from George Bush's failed policies by going full speed ahead with fiscally irresponsible tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans." Clinton policy director Neera Tanden called it "a George Bush-redux of corporate windfalls and tax cuts for the wealthy that will bankrupt our government and leave working families with the bill."

Don't look for any wallet enhancements from Obama or Clinton is the message here. They'd rather play the class envy card than maintain any sort of real tax relief, at least the kind that the 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts provided. If you think times are difficult now, wait until the Democrats really stick it to the middle class by letting those tax cuts expire in the middle of their term.