McCain's Plan for a "Gas-Tax Holiday"

Senator John McCain of Arizona, in what he hopes would stimulate the seemingly downturning economy, has urged Congress to suspend the Federal Gas Taxes from Memorial Day to Labor Day (the basic "Summer season" when gas prices typically rise) in what's being referred to as a "Gas-Tax Holiday".

By reducing gas prices, McCain hopes for the same trickle-down effect that's hoped for by issuing the rebate checks that will start coming out next month. It doesn't really look good for this plan to work with the rebate checks, as many people are planning to pay down debt and/or save their $600, rather than going out and spending it and boosting their local economies. With the plan to suspend gas taxes, will this lead to people's spending money elsewhere? I don't think so. I think it's going to unfortunately lead to people not worrying as much about trying to cut back on gas usage, which should be a strong focus, economy or no economy. It leads to less of a focus on efficient cars and allows people to keep on driving as much as they want.

Now don't get me wrong. I def would like to see actions taken to help stimulate the economy, but I don't think this is the way at all. I don't have the perfect solution myself, but allowing people to afford more gas and drive more seems to be counterintuitive, as all trends are leading towards the hopes of driving less and finding cleaner, cheaper, and more efficient methods of travel. Maybe much greater tax breaks on more efficient cars, be they used or new, would be one better move. Perhaps not just for hybrid vehicles or electric cars, but cars with a specifically high efficiency, such as getting over 25mpg, for example.

Whatever we need to do to help the economy, I think we must still focus on also helping the environment that we're living in at the same time. I know there are answers to do both and we need to work to discover these, rather than peddling easy answers that might sound good on paper to someone who is struggling to make ends meet. We need to help those that are struggling, while helping all of us to keep our heads above water and do it while not helping to add to the ridiculously high levels of pollution we're already putting out...