Five Cents

My county just voted to add five cents tax to every gallon of gasoline sold in the county.

Their cut of a gallon is now 12¢.  It used to be 7¢.  The counties to the south are still 7¢ and the county to the north is 9¢.

They claim it will just be $37.50 more a year to the average driver.  We're above average here at Casa de McThag, $73.45 is the increase from our average consumption of fuel.

They claim "But the impact, $37.50 a year - the implications of that are less than the cost of Starbucks coffee a month."

That's half a million lattes a month that aren't going to be bought folks.  Or Big Macs, or 1/4 Pounders...  Opportunity costs and the Gods of the copybook headings will not be ignored.

Pick something that you can no longer buy because you're paying 5¢ a gallon more for gas.

Interestingly the deciding vote was cast by a long hold-out on the issue mere days after he lost a primary challenge.

Also of note: the murmuring to up the gas taxes to maintain our roads coincides with the vote to allow the county employee's to unionize.

But the huge problem is really back on the County Commission's lap, they decided to no longer make developers pay for the impact new developments would have on the infrastructure.

Luckily, I live very near the souther border of the county I live in, I can take advantage of the cheaper gas