A whole bunch of stuff we got done by the Indiana General Assembly Tuesday as they wrapped up their legislative session:
- Passed Constitutional Carry
- Established Oversight Of ‘Bail Charities’
- Something That Kinda, Sorta Resembled a Tax Cut
Sadly, when presented with a real opportunity to be bold and provide lasting relief to families that are hurting financially, legislators folded like moistened cardboard.
Governor Eric Holcomb’s insidious gas tax steals $0.32 cents out of your pocket for every gallon of fuel you pump into your car, truck, or SUV. Next year, they’ll reach into your pants and financially molest an additional penny out of you: $0.33 per gallon.
Indiana’s gas tax is the 10th highest in the nation, higher than Michigan, Oregon, and even Delaware. By comparison, our neighbor, Missouri, is 49th.
Are the roads in the state of Indiana markedly better than those of Missouri? Hardly.
Any seasoned driver in the state of Indiana has hit their share of potholes. Don’t bother swerving to miss a pothole directly in front of you, you’ll just hit a crater.
Holcomb’s gas tax, signed into law in 2017, raises an estimated $1.2 billion per year statewide toward road upkeep and construction. That’s an estimated $5-6 billion in funding over the last five years, and yet…
In business, if you were paying a company for a service, you’d rightfully expect to get value for your money – especially if the cost of that service increased every single year. If that service was substandard, you would probably cut off paying those people and look somewhere else for the service.
The problem with the state government, or any government for that matter, is that they take by force. You can’t opt-out of the government – unless you, of course, you move to another state.
At a time when gas prices are skyrocketing due to the Biden administration’s energy policies and the war in Ukraine, struggling Hoosier middle-class families would have benefited far more from a reduction or complete elimination of the state’s gas tax than a pathetic 0.33% cut in Indiana’s income tax rate.
Former State Senator Jim Merritt joined Rob Kendall Wednesday for a discussion about the history of Indiana’s gas tax and its impact on Hoosier working families.