Don’t you just hate potholes? Imagine how much more difficult your commute would be if roads weren’t plowed or a bridge you regularly cross collapsed. What are you willing to spend to keep roads drivable? Of the price you pay per gallon of gas, only 18 cents goes to federal taxes and another 22 cents goes to New Hampshire taxes. All the tax money gets spent making our roads safer. Also, the federal gas tax hasn’t changed since 1993 while the state tax has stayed the same since 2014. Gas taxes are not the reason you’re paying more at the pump. Most of the gas price goes toward production and distribution. About 40 cents per gallon, though, ends up in corporate bank accounts.
Corporate profits are fine, within reasonable limits. However, a billionaire buying his third mansion or a Titanic-sized mega-yacht doesn’t make your life better in any way (unlike the taxes that improve roads you drive). When was the last time a billionaire invited you over? Investing in the stock market lets you share in corporate profits, right? Take a single penny out of the 40 in the profit pile and cut it into ten million pieces. Just one of those nubbins of nothing is your share of that profit. The rest fills the accounts of those siphoning up more money in a single day than you earn in a lifetime. How do you want your money used, maintaining your roads or buying a billionaire’s golden toilet?
Aaron Baker
Pembroke