OPINION:
I do not like $5-per-gallon gasoline any more than any other beleaguered American motorist, but I am disappointed to learn that the president is planning to address the situation by suspending the federal gasoline tax of 18.4 cents per gallon (“Biden weighing federal gas tax holiday, sending out gas rebate cards,” Web, June 20). This action is gimmickry, pure and simple — as was the decision to release gasoline from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which was ineffective.
There are many reasons a federal gas tax suspension is a bad idea. First, 18.4 cents per gallon is peanuts in the grand scheme of things. It is robbing the fund which provides for road and bridge maintenance, the budget for which has not increased with the cost of living in almost 30 years, despite vehicles having become much more fuel-efficient. Finally, there is no assurance that gasoline retailers will drop the price of fuel despite the suspension of the levy.
We will need to find a way to provide federal funding for roads and bridges. Thus, a gasoline-tax suspension boils down to the incurring of even more federal red ink at a time when our deficit spending is out of control. It is a lose-lose proposition.
OREN SPIEGLER
Peters Township, Pennsylvania
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