What a dumb idea

Well, the Republicans have proposed giving out a $100 gas rebate in order to offset the rising costs of gasoline. I know I'm several days late on this, but I'm just getting around to writing about it.

What sense does this make? How are you going to distribute these rebates? Is it fair that people who spend $300 a month on gas get the same money back as someone who spends $30?

It's not so much that it's a bad way to do it (although it is), but the logistics of it just seem like they would be way too complicated for just $100 per person. It just doesn't seem logical to me.

The democrats on the other hand have come out with a plan to decrease gasoline taxes in order to lower prices. This would apparently take effect for a two month period.

Of course all of this is just political rhetoric in the run up to the election. I say this because of the fighting between the dems and repubs on this issue. It's become a game of "my plan saves the american people more than yours." The republicans are saying that their plan saves the average gasoline consumer eight or so months of the democrats plan. That raises the question of just how much the two month democrat plan would actually save anyone. But hey, I think that idea is much better.

Estimates put the republican plan at costing about $10 billion. $10 billion just to save each american 100 bucks. Crazy.

While one GOP senator, John Thune of South Dakota, introduced his own tax holiday bill, most Republicans oppose the idea.

They argue there's no assurance the tax break — which is collected from refiners — will be passed on to consumers at the pump. If the lost revenue from a tax suspension — estimated at $6 billion — is made up by imposing additional taxes on oil companies, as Democrats envision, there's incentive for companies not to pass the savings on to retailers, said critics of the plan.

And the fighting goes on. By the time they figure it out natural gas prices will be the bigger concern.

Tags: Democrat, Republican, Gas, Rebate