there's actually a pretty good reason--two, really. at first glance, taxing gambling seems like an easy way to generate revenue for the state (or nation, in this case--though i'm not sure about the legality of a federal gambling tax). it's voluntary, right? you only gamble if you want to, and if you want to, there's no reason the state/nation shouldn't benefit.

the first problem is that gambling isn't always voluntary. it can be incredibly addictive, and once addicted, very destructive. the current enforcement of online gambling laws is a joke, and i'm not sure there's a good way to enforce them. but enabling online gambling--making it even easier for people to throw their lives away by allowing them to do so at home, alone--can't be a good idea, especially during a depression.

the second problem is, this 'voluntary tax' is, in reality, nothing more than a tax on the lower-income bracket. and yes, before you start in, much of the lower-income bracket in the US can certainly afford a computer and an internet connection. enabling online gambling means enabling the poor to remain poor--it's really as simple as that.

that gas tax increase, although being an awesome way to increase revenue- is unrealistic given the fact that so much existing infrastructure has been built around an automobile-centred lifestyle. were serious efforts to be made to redesign cities and suburbs to make people not as dependent upon the "three cars per household" lifestyle, i'd be supportive of it. anything less than a total rethinking of the entire paradigm is really just a band-aid though.

While I agree on all your points, I very much doubt the feasibility of some of them. Obama spent a campaign defending himself against charges of being a secret Muslim. How do you think it would look if he started withholding money from Israel? On the Drug War, I believe he has said that he does not favor legalization. However, if he could just go so far respecting the 10th Amendment and stopping the illegal raids on medical marijuana farms and dispensaries, that would be a huge leap forward. The gas tax increase seems like a plausible but largely inconsequential move.

Great article. Legalizing drugs I'm somewhat against, only just stuff like heroine and cocaine are pretty bad. Pot wouldn't bother me a bit, as long as it is regulated so people do not keep increasing the potency of weed. I was half tempted to go ahead and light up just to see what it is like when I left the active duty Army, but after having a buddy tell me to be careful about weed because of how the potency is increasing, now I think I'll just let it be one of those things that I can live without trying.

Yeah, but what if you want to get really, really high?

Ten cents is unrealistic? Considering how we survived gas prices twice the current level, I'm sure an extra ~$2.00 per fill up is not going to kill us.

Any increase in gas will result in an increase for services and goods.

You're seeing it on a personal, small scale.

A lot of companies use gasoline box trucks to make local deliveries and end up fueling up once a day, not to mention the service industry people, like cable installation, phone services, satellite TV. They spend most of their day driving, and fueling up their vehicle.

A fleet of 100 vehicles, refuels once a day, at an extra $3+ a fill-up (most work trucks hold near 30 gallons). +/- $300 a day, 5 days a week is $1500 a week in expenditures. $1500 x 52 weeks is $78,000 a year. Companies more than likely aren't going to just eat that cost.

It gets even worse when you get into Diesels and OTR shipping. Where fuel tanks get into the 300 gallon zone.

We'd be getting hit on both sides, not only would we be paying the gas tax, we would end up making up the difference in the gas tax on service and goods prices.

You're also assuming that gas prices will stay where they are at currently.

A lot of companies increased the price of their goods and services to cover higher gas prices just a few months ago. I have not come across a company that has gone back down despite the price of gas falling dramatically.

We've had fights with several of our suppliers and shippers, including UPS, about the continued "fuel price increase" they've continued to charge us for since fuel prices have lowered and stabilized for months now.

Oh, no. These people (soulless, rich assholes) don't let their money go. Anybody who doesn't believe that gas prices will be up to $5 a gallon by the summer and probably $10 a gallon a year or two from now (European pricing...) is seriously lacking in the smarts department. And I don't think "Barry" is going to stick, though I hope he gets more than 4 years in office.

Exactly. UPS, city taxis all over the place, trucking companies everywhere are all still charging a big fuel surcharge even though prices have fallen more than 40% in many areas. The events of this summer proved that we can survive at over $4.00/gal, even if it is painful. Gas is now less than half that, so there is no reason at all not to raise the federal tax by 25 cents a gallon and use the money to fix our highways that we have been neglecting since Reagan took office in 1980, almost 30 years ago today.

Our nation's roads, highways and bridges could use that $50 billion/year investment, which would create jobs here in America and put much of that money directly into the US economy through wages, materials purchases, and taxes on both of those.

I think the drug war should be evaluated. The amount of money... There is a councilman in El Paso (I believe) who is fighting this, talking about the dangers of fighting this, and how much money it would bring in. In this failing economy, that would really help everything - those horrible bridges and roads for one.

El Paso... left that place not too long ago...

You should hear about all the death threats local cops are getting now. Even a soldier from my old unit is possibly kinda-sorta involved with the drug mafia and a shooting that happened at a club down there.

Something must be done to take away the power from those cartels, and legalizing drugs is probably the best idea for it.

it's not the tax increase itself that's unrealistic, but rather the entire direction that line of thinking is headed towards. more needs to be done to wean people away from cars than just taxing gas alone. i personally have no need for a car where i presently live, but for the vast majority of people in the US the infrastructure isn't in place for people to be able to rely upon public or human-powered transportation. on top of that, there's still an attitude which views any attempt to get people to give up the suburban lifestyle in general and cars in particular as a call to the evil boogeyman of all boogeymen, socialism.

Exactly, that was part of the reason this guy was fighting to at least get marijuana legalized. Just the money from that alone would help alleviate some of those problems....