EDITORIAL: Broad support for a really bad idea

Posted: 5/11/07

EDITORIAL:
Broad support for a really bad idea

While he probably meant well, state Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer’s “tax-free gas” proposal represents a troubling tendency. We want to have our cake and eat it too. Or, more specifically, we want to have our gas guzzlers and drive cheaply too.

Reacting to gasoline prices that have been bumping the $3-per-gallon range, the San Antonio Democrat suggested the state suspend its 20-cents-per-gallon gas tax for 90 days this summer. “My constituents are saying, ‘Gas is too high,’” Fischer explained, noting the temporary gas-tax repeal could save a Texas couple about $100. Those family savings would add up to about $500 million to $700 million in lost revenue, set aside for highway construction and public education. Fischer suggested the shortfall could be covered by the state’s $8 billion surplus, which has been earmarked for school property tax cuts and the state’s Rainy Day Fund.

Fischer’s House colleagues apparently followed his logic. They approved his amendment 118-16. But the measure is not a done deal. It requires Senate approval, and senators seem more inclined to favor property tax breaks than lower numbers at the gas pump.

The “tax-free gas” plan is plain wrong, on several levels. Unfortunately, the proposal:

• Pushes gasoline consumption the wrong way.

The primary variable affecting the price of gas is refineries’ capacity. It’s the law of supply-and-demand. Artificially suppressing gas prices would increase consumption, which would decrease supply. So, ironically, core gas prices would shoot up as gas availability drops. Then, when the tax repeal period ends, pump prices would soar. By the end of the year, Texas motorists could actually spend more on gas than if a tax repeal never happened.

• Promotes consumption at the expense of public good.

For the good of all Texans, state policies should reward reduced gas usage, not bolster gas burning. We ought to be able to see we all have a vested interest in decreasing the amount of gas we buy. Auto emissions are ruining the quality of our air, which is far more than an aesthetic problem in July and August, but also a threat to the health of children, the ill and the elderly and a deterrent to commerce and economic development. Clogged roads diminish the quality of life of almost everyone who lives in an urban area. Dependence upon foreign oil threatens our national sovereignty. Depletion of fuel supplies will harm our children and grandchildren.

These are health, happiness, security and stewardship issues. We ought to develop policies that strengthen and sustain them, not diminish and destroy them.

• Promotes short-term gain; ignores long-term pain.

Can Texas voters be bought for $100 a pair? That’s the calculation made by legislators who support the temporary gas-tax repeal. Ironically, couples who need $100 the most are least likely to see $100 in savings, since it’s still not enough to fund a vacation. So, this proposal becomes yet another tax break for the wealthy and a piffle for the poor.

More troubling is lawmakers’ attitude that the state budget surplus can be siphoned to fuel a vote-buying scheme. If the surplus can be pilfered—and some senators have made a good case that it should not—then it should be applied where it really can help. Before we buy votes, we should increase the number of Child Protective Services workers, provide insurance for more children, look after the mentally ill and care for impoverished children. (For more information, see Buckner International President Ken Hall’s May 8 blog at www.bucknerprez.typepad.com.)

You may dismiss these words as “politics.” But gas consumption and use of natural resources, as well as allocation of taxes, are deeply spiritual issues. We should pray about what and how we drive and the policies we support.