THE ISSUE:Mayor Bloomberg‘s suggestion to raise gasoline taxes to curb gas consumption.
I think that it’s time for Mayor Bloomberg to take a reality check (” ‘Tax-Hiker’ Mike’s Foul Gas Odor,” June 21).
We already use our cars less, and his proposal serves only to further shrink our family budgets.
What’s next – let them eat cake?
Ed Michaelson
Staten Island
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As a successful capitalist who should know better, Bloomberg has been corrupted by political power.
His nanny-state rhetoric confuses capitalism with government coercion. What the mayor seems to have forgotten is that capitalism is a system based on incentives of the free market.
People worked for Bloomberg and bought his products voluntarily. As mayor, he works for the people at their pleasure, not his.
The only way the mayor uses capitalism legitimately is to tax its productivity, hopefully within limits, so as not to destroy this capacity to produce.
Raising the price of gasoline to penalize legal behavior goes beyond those limits and hurts productivity in all economic sectors.
For every single product or service that relies on motor-vehicle transportation for its delivery, the consequences will be higher prices and lower consumption all over, not just at the gas pump.
This tax scheme is not in the service of the people but of bigger government.
Shame on you, Bloomberg.
Don Schettini
Manhattan
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The mayor is right: The gas tax should be raised – and on a sliding scale.
How about we tax those who drive SUVs at 80 mph a huge fine? Or people who live in large homes who use way more energy than a struggling family in a one-bedroom apartment?
Tax private-plane owners or companies with a large carbon footprint.
Oh, wait. Those would all include Bloomberg. Never mind.
Edward Immerman
Manhattan
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Bloomberg and New York City residents should realize that the world does not revolve around or care about them.
There are people in this country who live in rural areas who do not have a mass-transit system and who cannot walk down the block for their favorite latte.
We have to drive to work, the grocery store, the hardware store and everywhere else.
If Bloomberg thinks that we should raise taxes on fuel, why not put a tax on everyone who owns a car in New York City?
You have mass transit and everything you want within walking distance. Yet, on Friday nights, I see all the “weekenders” coming up here with their Range Rovers, BMWs and SUVs.
People in the “sticks” drive more fuel-efficient cars. While there are a lot of pickup trucks, most of them are used for work, not image.
Jack Apicella
Sharon, Conn.
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Bloomberg has the right idea but the wrong solution. Strictly enforcing speed limits is the answer.
This should not be that much more of a burden to a fellow who pays $71.11 a pop to fill up his Jeep.
Save fuel, save lives and lower insurance rates.
Edward Giuliano
Hicksville
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We are still paying a gas tax levied for World War I and World War II.
Will it ever end?
Get real, Bloomy.
Bill Whalen
Sanbornton, NH
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That Bloomberg believes the tax policy is the way government uses capitalism to encourage the right behavior is shocking.
It belies a fundamental ignorance of capitalism while revealing the mind set of a dictator.
We don’t yet live under a dictatorship or anything near one. What we live under is a mixed economy.
In this context, the brazen assertion that the purpose of taxes is to influence behavior, rather than finance government, represents yet another principled step away from our country’s founding principles.
Chuck Braman
Manhattan