One of the on-going challenges of having any kind of debate in this state is that people have a LOT of trouble with numbers. We have seen this recently with the gas tax. I have been writing about this on Facebook (but this is my first post on BMG!) and people have piled on saying that the gas tax would be “crippling.” I am sorry, but I just don’t see it that way, and here is why: Most Americans drive 12,000 miles a year (national DOT figures suggest less for many age groups). And average fuel efficiency for a car is 17.1 (should be 30), so that means that you should be using anywhere from 400 to 700 gallons a year.
At 19 cents a gallon, the ANNUAL cost of a gas tax would be somewhere between $70 (even less if you have a Prius) and $133. That means it would cost between $76 and $133 a year. Which means that we could fix our roads and bridges for something between $1.53 and $2.50 a week, or about the price of a coffee, or a coffee and a donut. I didn’t think the Patrick Administration has done a good job of pointing out how tiny this is — until I read that yesterday the Governor said in Chicopee that the gas tax would “cost about the same as a cup of coffee” a week. So we know that someone on his staff is reading Facebook – maybe DLP himself!
So: does anyone out there working for the marketing department of Dunkin’ Donuts? They could do a great promotion – equal to one coffee and donut per week for the first month of a gas tax. This would mean that the gas tax would be free to everyone in Massachusetts who was going to buy a coffee and donut anyway. That’s the way to fulfill corporate responsibility and build brand loyalty.
In the meantime, could we talk about something else? The members of the legislature and the people on talk radio are driving themselves — and us — crazy over the cost of a cup of coffee.
Which made me wonder – WHERE does he get his coffee? Trader Joe’s?
8 bucks a month. 2 bucks a week.
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p>Pharma could get on the bandwagon, you know to stir up some brand loyalty:
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p>[fade in to some corporate hotshot in a lab coat]
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p>”A buck a day. That dinky little gas tax got you down? Forced to cut back on life’s little pleasures?
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p>You know, like insulin?
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p>Why insulin only costs a buck a day too!
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p>We’re Eli Lily and we make insulin. We would give you one free shot of insulin a week so you can pay the gas tax without feeling the pain. But we can’t, because the Law says we can’t give free stuff away in your state.
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p>So suck it. We’re Eli Lilly, and we have your cash. And so does the Government.”