Gasoline taxes, Iraq, FDR, Business, and Bronchitis

I can give myself an excuse today. Thank the medicine for my bronchitis is keeping me pretty much in first gear but that has been pretty much the story of this past week.

Blue Indiana interviewed Jill Long. With gas prices being what they are I found this part interesting:

You have also voiced support for the idea of changing Indiana’s gas sales tax to a per-gallon tax that you argue would be more fair to Indiana drivers. Why do you see this as a necessary reform?

Jill Long Thompson: The “energy emergency” is a short-term remedy. It would only allow you to suspend the sales tax for 60 days, and possibly renew it for another 60 days. Another benefit of declaring the energy emergency however, is that it could trigger an investigation on the part of the Attorney General in order to look into whether there has been price gouging on the part of the oil companies. But, really what we need to look for is a long-term solution, and I believe that tying the sales tax to the price of gasoline is ultimately regressive. Any rise in the price of gasoline essentially amounts to a tax increase for the consumers, and it taxes people who have the least ability to pay. I think that it would be important to not only declare the energy emergency, but also to watch the oil markets and take a good look at revenues coming in to the state budget and general fund. If necessary, I would call a special session of the state legislature to examine alternatives to how the sales tax operate. I would say that we should tie it to gallons sold, rather than simply the price of gasoline.

Will suspending the gas tax doing any good? Not really - the numbers show no great benefit (even if I would not mind a little benefit). Is changing how gas is taxed a good idea? I think more of a real benefit might be found here.

Since I cannot figure out how to post Matt Tully's individual posts, here is what he had to say about the gas tax issue:

About gas taxes

Posted by Matt Tully

When it costs $50.03 to fill up the 14-gallon tank in a Honda Accord, you know gas prices are getting high. And as the summer holiday season hits, it can't be too comfortable for Gov. Mitch Daniels to reject Democratic calls to increase the gas tax.

But $41 million a month? That's a lot of cash. And that's the minimum the state would lose if the 6 percent sales tax on gasoline were suspended.

"Two months of giving up the sales tax on gas would unbalance the budget," said outgoing State Budget Director Charles Schalliol, referring to this year's projected surplus of roughly $81 million.

Suspending the tax would likely be a popular move for a governor seen in some parts of the state as overly focused on the bottom line. On a fill-up of that Honda Accord, the tax break would save somewhere around $3.

Some Hoosiers living with tight budgets would benefit. But so would others who chose to buy Hummers and homes far from work. Would suspending the sales tax on gas be a prudent move for a state with shaky finances?

Tough call. But remember: Despite widespread support for full-day kindergarten, the General Assembly just a month ago decided it could not afford to fully fund it. Any dollar that doesn't come into the state this year can't be spent next year.

I find myself less and less impressed with Tully but I think he has a good point about full-day kindergarten.

Blue Indiana also has a reminder that next Sunday starts the Blog Talk Radio.

Bilerico has a post about a denial of service attack on Shakesville and itself. For those finding this blog from Northwest Indiana, I suggest checking out Shakesville (used to be Shakespeare's Sister).

Also at Bilerico, Storm Bear wrote about Keith Olbermann's special comment on the Iraq spending bill. I generally like Olbermann - he seems to have not fallen in love with himself, he seems to genuinely believe and feel what he says, and he has no book deals like those asses on Fox - but I had to differ with him on this commentary. From what I saw of Pelosi sitting next to the President, she looked like someone clamping their jaw shut to keep the bile from rising. At least, I hope so. I just have a feeling that more went on than the mainstream media can digest as anything but a capitulation. I also hope E.J. Dionne had it right in his May 25 column:

Democrats, in short, have enough power to complicate the president's life, but not enough to impose their will. Moreover, there is genuine disagreement even among Bush's Democratic critics over what the pace of withdrawal should be and how to minimize the damage of this war to the country's long-term interests. That is neither shocking nor appalling, but, yes, it complicates things. So does the fact that the minority wields enormous power in the Senate.

What was true in January thus remains true today: The president will be forced to change his policy only when enough Republicans tell him he has to. Facing this is no fun; it's just necessary.

Seems to me the choice is either do this thing right or not. Ranting about a House caving into reality - and not Bush - serves only to hearten the Republicans. Notice Bush's swaggering returned this week. Principle is a nice thing but ineffectual ventures in support of that principle is a road to ruin. In cruder terms: when nothing changes in September, Bush has had enough rope to hang himself with both parties.

The Washington Post's Jonathon Yardley reviews a new biography of FDR and thinks it is the best one volume biography of FDR.

Looking at the Indianapolis Star's Business page, I noticed the article Disappearing act, but really caught my eye was the subhead: "A year after Guidant Corp.'s high-profile sale, and the payouts made to former top executives, there's little proof money from the $27 billion deal is helping to build the local life-sciences industry." I wrote about Anderson's inability to sustain homegrown business in the post Ann Arbor, Michigan #1 for knowledge workers?, and the subhead implied the problem existed in Indianapolis, too. These paragraphs give the bad news:

Around Indianapolis, many venture capitalists and health-care experts had hoped much of the executive talent and money from Guidant could help pollinate other startup companies. But a year later, it's difficult to follow the money trail.

"I can't think of any specific circumstance where former Guidant people were behind the formation of something here in Indianapolis since the buyout," said Joe Broecker, senior managing director of Periculum Capital Co., an investment-banking firm. "If anything is happening, it's pretty low on the radar."

Today's Herald-Bulletin has an article on how changing education is changing to meet the new technology but the story is still not online.

Advance Indiana has some posts on Fort Wayne's Republican mayoral candidate Kelty's campaign finance reports. Too bad other Republicans cannot be as honest about their party.

I have to call it a day. Nothing like congested lungs to make even typing a bit tiring. For my repeat readers and whoever else wanders into this madness, I want to give a few links to some blogs that may be of interest:

Commonplace Book
Shelby County Truth

Am I the only person confused by Liberal Indiana's new format? Or is it just tired brain refusing to work?

Everyone have a good Memorial Day.