New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu says he’d sign off on a gas tax holiday in the Granite State for anyone, not just residents. This is in response to a bill in the legislature that would only give the tax break to actual residents.
The legislation would void the gasoline tax for three months – probably over the summer.
As I noted here, the three-month schtick is a gimmick, but the bigger problem was that New Hampshire is a mixed bag when it comes to defining who “lives” here. If you pay out-of-state tuition at a local college, you can’t do jury duty or even license a pet, but you can vote no matter what state issued your vehicle registration or driver’s license.
For context, Mr. Sununu defined residents as people who registered their cars in the state. That’s a bold statement that could have far-reaching consequences were it applied to elections, but we’re talking about the gas tax holiday.
He says it gives drivers a 22-cent a gallon break for a couple of months whether they live here or are just driving through.
“I’m hoping they will take it up,” Sununu said. I think it would be a huge win. I think there is an expectation on the state level to do it. We have a very strong economy, we have surpluses, we have a great rainy-day fund.”
I’ll admit that an across-the-board gas tax cut would be great for New Hampshire.
The Shining Beacon in New England
The gas tax holiday would significantly drive traffic to NH border towns from the swirling blue toilets surrounding us. New England states that until recently wanted to raise gas taxes to increase revenue while pretending to help the environment.
But they couldn’t raise them. Joe Biden’s US energy policies (sorry, I meant Putin’s US energy policy) drove gas prices up early and often until tax-and-spend libs in these blue stats couldn’t risk the political fallout of hiking the cost of motor fuel further.
Joe raised them some more, but none of that goes in their corpulent blue piggy banks, and today this means they probably can’t afford a gas tax holiday.
Add Joe Biden’s Putin’s economic inflation and supply chain woes, and these Democrat bastions are hurting. They need to raise taxes to offset the financial stresses these policies put on state and local governments. They need more revenue, so cutting any tax is untenable.
But New Hampshire can afford it.
An across-the-board twenty-two cents per gallon reduction would be a beacon attracting motorists that would translate into sales of liquor, tobacco, vaping supplies, food, snacks, and other stuff on top of the gasoline.
And while Joe Biden’s Putin’s economy is having a significant impact on prices everywhere, lower gasoline prices would attract tourists to New Hampshire instead of Maine or Vermont, reducing expected declines in seasonal revenue that come with higher fuel prices and inflation.
Can We Should We?
I’ll remind you again that I’m not a fan of taking the heat off Democrats that will come from making people feel the pain of the left’s policies every day.
A gas tax holiday might be worse for people’s pockets and pocketbooks long-term if they fail to translate the pain to the ballot box and hold Joe Putin’s party responsible.
But if you are going to do it, do it for everyone. And then, a few months in, suggest we make it permanent—no more state gas tax. Call the Legislature back in September, Mr. Sununu, and turn the heat up on the Dems.
It might fubar any Dem plan to blame Republicans when the tax holiday ends and the price goes back up.
If the Lefties call it a stunt – it’s not a stunt if you make it forever. And that forever is inevitable, thanks to Dem policy. Their must-have-to-save-the-planet-net-zero-EV future will deliberately erase that gas tax revenue stream anyway, so why not end it now? Make it a plank in the GOP candidate’s platform.
Solve the problem before it becomes a problem, and if we never reach the EV future, millions will be left in the hands of consumers annually to spend in the economy.
Dems will say no, they love all taxes, and if they do, ask them what’s their plan?
They want Electric vehicles that we have neither the material to build nor the energy to charge, and almost no one can afford, but they won’t be paying gas taxes, so, what’s the plan?
We can’t print money to offset costs, and the DC Dem Printing Press is already making inflation and the cost of everything worse, so what’s the plan.
Crying, moaning, and finger-pointing is not a plan.
They don’t have a plan which can’t be a bad thing to point out heading into an election, but these are the facts. We have to find another way to fund roads and bridges based on Dem priorities, so let’s get on that now.
End the gas tax. Find that funding someplace else. You won’t get a better chance than this.
The post Forget the Gas Tax Holiday, NH – Just End the Gas Tax: You Won’t Get a Better Chance than This appeared first on Granite Grok.