Just as gas prices have tumbled, politicians are asking Americans to pay more at the pump in taxes, says former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina.
"While the various proposals differ, one thing is the same: None should be passed into law," Fiorina, along with Penny Nance, wrote in an opinion piece
for The Wall Street Journal Wednesday.
Gas prices have dropped 34 percent over the last year at a time when the median household income has fallen three percent in the last six years, explained the former Republican candidate for Senate, who ran against California Sen. Barbara Boxer in 2010.
But lawmakers see it as "an opportunity to ask Americans for more of their paychecks," Fiorina said.
A measure was introduced in the House co-authored by Democrat Rep. Earl Blumenauer of Oregon and Republican Rep. Tom Petri of Wisconsin that would enact a 15 cent increase in the
federal gas tax — "nearly doubling the current 18.4-cent-per-gallon tax."
Such a move would especially hurt the middle class, says the California Republican, who is
considering running for president in 2016.
"Higher gasoline prices would cut into the $1,200 that the average family is expected to save this year. The middle class stands to lose the most. Households earning less than $50,000 spend an average of 20 percent of their income on energy," she wrote.
In addition, it would also hurt the economy as a whole.
Lawmakers say they want to increase the gas tax in order to fund much needed highway infrastructure projects and to discourage Americans from using too much gas to protect the environment and resources, she explained.
"Both arguments are easily dismantled," Fiorina contends.
"The Highway Trust Fund's money problems aren't attributable to a lack of revenue from gas taxes. They're attributable to politicians' penchant for wasteful spending," she said.
As for using the gas tax to reduce the amount of fuel that Americans will consume, the former Senate candidate says that "while higher taxes do lower consumption for most products, gasoline is a necessity and will not see drastic declines in usage."
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