Politicians sometimes come up with really good ideas and sometimes, well, the ideas are as dumb as a stump.

Which describes presumptive Republican presidential candidate John McCain’s plan to drop the 18.4 cents a gallon federal tax from Memorial Day to Labor Day.

And before anyone accuses us of picking on the GOP, Hillary Clinton, attempting to earn the Democratic nomination to run against McCain this fall, supports the McCain proposal.

Tweedledee and Tweedledum(b) I would call this pair.

Here is what the average orangutan could find wrong with the proposal:

1. Just because the 18.4-cent tax goes off the price of a gallon of gas doesn’t at all mean it will end up in your pocket. Let’s see, now. A bunch of oil company executives are sitting around trying to decide what to do. They have two choices: Lower the price of gas or keep the money. What do you think they are going to do?

2. OK, lets say we live in “Never-Never Land” and the oil companies do pass on the tax break to the consumers. According to economists, the average driver will save $4 or so per fill-up, and guess what? It is predicted we will drive more, pushing up the demand — and the price — for gas.

3. The 18.4 cents per gallon is a user tax. Those who drive more and buy more gasoline pay more. Bigger, heavier rigs use more gas per mile. They also put more strain on roads and bridges, which need to be maintained. A lot of road maintenance is paid for with gas tax money. Cut the gas tax and the nation’s highway infrastructure will suffer, and as most of us know, it is actually cheaper to keep infrastructures in good working order than allow them to deteriorate and have to replace them later.

4. Many of our summer highway work projects are funded by the federal gas tax, and those men and women doing the work are earning good wages. These folks buy stuff and pay a ton of taxes. Take away the gas tax, and thousands of jobs could be lost just so the average driver can save about $40 this summer, according to economists.

Clinton wants to make up the lost gas tax revenue by hiking the taxes on oil company profits. Sorry, Hillary, but this is dumber than trying to fly to the moon in a Cessna.
Increasing taxes on oil companies is yet another excuse to raise prices.

The third horse left in the presidential race, Democrat Barack Obama, is against the gas tax holiday, and in this case, he is right.

The hope is Congress takes a pass on this harebrained idea.

It is great politics for lawmakers to propose tax cuts, but this proposal is just plain dimwitted and shortsighted.

We should expect more from those who would lead us for the next four years.

Stephen Matlow
Enterprise Managing Editor