April 26, 2005

Government handouts bad--except when you are wealthy

MSN Money - Extra: SUV owners get free gas -- courtesy of Uncle Sam: "Owners of gas-guzzling SUVs and other heavy vehicles who use them entirely for business can get Uncle Sam to pay for four or more years of fuel costs -- in the form of tax breaks. It's hard to think of a worse formula for wrecking the country. "


This one makes me feel a little queasy. Not only is it bad tax policy, but given what we know about peak oil and pollution and global warming, this is analagous to giving people tax breaks if their home business is a meth lab. Sure glad the Republicans are in charge.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

wow. we've been told for years that it's best to let the market dictate the transition to hybrid or alternative fuels. but part of that "letting the market work" is making people bear the burden of their own choices so that, faced with that burden, they might choose differently.

i completely believe that there are instances when the government needs to constrain and shape the market, but this most definitely seems like that antithesis of that.

at first, i thought your analogy to the meth lab was a bit, how did brandon put it? passionate. but the more i think about it, the more i think it's apt. we're addicted to cheap oil. and our politicians are addicted to contributions from the energy and auto industry.

oh, and they're phasing out the tax credit for hybrids.

meh.

Streak said...

yeah. this isn't the way government is supposed to work, and the same conservatives who bemoan taxes and social engineering tend to just shrug here.

Glad I talked Brandon into "passionate." Remember, if I really was militant, then there would be some call to violent action or something. But I can't get much further than chuckling when I see an Escalade or Hummer at the gas pump. And now I know that the joke is on me. I am paying for their gas while they belittle taxes.