Finance committee chair Ken "Shut Up" Weyler says the tax cut:
"will bring more people from out-of-state"
Emperor Speaker O'Brien says:
Without question, the top concern of my constituents and New Hampshire residents of all political backgrounds has been the high price of gasoline.
Yeah, sure - and nobody's been paying attention to your attempts to wrestle the state firmly back to the 1880's or Paul Ryan's attempts to obliterate Medicare...
And House Majority Leader DJ Bettencourt says:
"You know who doesn't call it a gimmick, the people in MA"
Would someone please tell Bettencourt that "redistricting" does not mean he represents anyone from Massachusetts???
So let's run some numbers. First, I went to a gas price website today and looked at Methuen, MA. The lowest price was $3.81 a gallon. Then I looked at gas in Bettencourt's hometown of Salem, NH - which was also $3.81 a gallon.
Let's assume the gas tax goes through, and that oil companies and station owners pass that $.05 savings directly on to consumers without keeping any of that for themselves (ha!), bringing Salem gas down to $3.76 a gallon.
A guy from Mass driving a car that gets 25 MPG decides to travel an extra 5 miles out of his way to get to a gas station in Salem and fills his 15 gallon tank, saving himself $.75 cents.
The trouble is, he had to burn 4/10 of a gallon to make that 5-mile trip and then return back home. At $3.76 a gallon, that means he spent $1.50 to save $.75. MATH FAIL.
So much for the out-of-state gas buying binge. Instead of a 1.3% reduction in gas prices at the expense of diverting money meant for road repairs and maintenance (ya know, things that put people to work in jobs), a savvy consumer could do a lot better by comparing gas prices online, making sure their tires weren't under-inflated, and watching their speed on highways.
By the way - anybody else pick up that the timing of this tax reduction coincides with the tail end of the legislative session when O'Brien, Bettencourt, Weyler, and others will be putting in a lot of miles commuting to Concord???
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