In a bi-partisan display of short-sightedness, both Hillary and McCain are endorsing a plan to suspend the federal tax on gas for the summer. I’m sure this has been beaten to death by the media already, but this ranks so far up on my stupidity meter I can’t resist saying something. Why do I think this is stupid? One, because the savings would be so minimal that they would have no effect. Two, because it sounds like nothing but a half-assed marketing campaign to get working-class votes. I’m sure many people will see the headline and think “Wow, how considerate of them, that will save me some money!”

Wrong. Let’s do some math here. I use more gas than most people I know, since I drive around town for a large portion of the work I do and travel frequently on weekends. My average is 3-4 tanks a month, or 60-80 gallons. Taking an average of 70 gallons at a price of $3.75, that’s $262.50 a month. Reduce that by 18.4 cents a gallon and its $249.62. So for the three months of the summer travel season, I’d save $38.64. Which is less than half a tank of gas in savings, as Obama keeps bringing up.

The effect this thirty some odd dollars in saving has on me is so much less than the effect the billions in lost revenue to the federal government would have. The trade off simple does not make any sense. I can’t imagine any way to spin it that would even come close to rationalizing the idea.

Personally, I hope gas prices continue to go up. It will motivate everyone to use public transportation, buy fuel efficient vehicles, etc. I’d be willing to bet rising gas prices will do more to reduce emissions from vehicles than any other effort to date.

Take a read of this article at CNN Money that compares gas prices from a few other countries. While we’re not really comparing apples and apples since economies differ and a dollar here is definately not a dollar there, its still worth reading. Gas consumption has dropped or stayed stable in most of Europe over the past few decades. Instead of dropping the federal gas tax, let’s double it and use that money to fund public transportation. It’s a win-win situation; get more money to build public transportation all while encouraging people to actually use it because its cheaper. Well, that may not work either, but its a noble idea.