Record gas prices more accelerant to ignite political fury
It’s the gas prices, stupid. There’s something about the high price of gasoline that fuels our anger toward elected officials. So, naturally and historically, when the national average price reaches a record high, as it did again Thursday at $4.41 a gallon, we need to point blame at someone.
“Who’s to blame, once again? Joe Biden and Illinois Democrats like J.B. Pritzker,” said Preya Samsundar, a spokesman for the
Republican National Committee. “Wallets are shrinking as gas tanks are filling and voters deserve answers. Biden and the Democrats need to be held accountable for this price hike.”
Fair enough. This is the price of being in office. If former President Donald Trump was in office, he would be getting blamed the same way. It’s what voters do.
It’s what humans do. We need a scapegoat.
In Indiana, the new political scapegoat is Gov. Eric Holcomb, the top Republican who’s being urged by Democrats to pause the state’s gas use and excise taxes until July.
“Hoosiers have been paying 74.5 cents in taxes per gallon this month. Putting a hold on the tax, a combination of two state taxes, would decrease the gas tax by as much as 56.1 cents a gallon. That $4.75 could drop to under $4.20 if the Legislature acts,” according to a story by my colleague Alexandra Kukulka.
Is the governor listening? Yes, he is, but you likely won’t like his response to me. I will get to it in a minute. But first, a message from your Democratic lawmakers.
“I’m calling on Gov. Eric Holcomb to follow the lead of Georgia, Maryland and Connecticut and suspend the state’s gas taxes to help Hoosiers,” said State Rep. Carolyn Jackson, D-Hammond. “Easing the cost of living in Indiana and helping local busi
nesses thrive is the least a legislature can do for our constituents. Suspending the gas tax for just a few months could save Hoosier drivers nearly $77 million.”
In 2000, Gov. Frank O’Bannon suspended the gas sales tax in Indiana for three months when gas prices hit $1.80, saving Hoosier motorists a combined $46 million. Adjusting for inflation, $1.80 in 2000 would amount to $3.01 in 2022, she noted. (If you want to calculate her data and projected estimates, I shared her media release in its entirety on my Facebook page, www.facebook.com/ JerDavich.)
On the last day of the 2022 legislative session, Republicans rejected House and Senate Democrats’ proposal to suspend the gasoline tax until July, according to a public statement released Thursday by State Rep. Ragen Hatcher, D-Gary.
“The average Gary resident drives nearly a half-hour to get to work each day,” Hatcher said. “Suspending the gas tax would drastically reduce the price at the pump and help Hoosiers get back on their feet after two years of an unpredictable pandemic that impacted many Hoosiers’ incomes.”
Indiana, one of just 16 states which taxes the price of gas, should follow the lead of other states such as Georgia and Maryland by suspending its gas taxes, she said.
Democratic lawmakers in several states have suggested that suspending the gas tax would help alleviate political polarization in our country. Jackson cited a recent Politico poll saying nearly three-fourths of American voters support a temporary break from state and federal gas taxes.
“We have an opportunity to not only help Hoosiers save money and strengthen our local economies, but to help bridge some of the political gaps that have developed in recent years,” Jackson said.
I don’t share her idealism with this issue. That bridge was burned down a few years ago and most voters enjoy returning to it with a can of gasoline and a match. They don’t care if that gas costs $5 a gallon. They’ll gladly pay it to keep the political gap in place.
Divisive issues barrage us every day — the war in Ukraine, abortion rights and rising inflation, among others — pulling us apart from each other as we dig in our heels along the muddy trenches of partisan politics. You’d think that record gas prices would create a common ground of understanding, or a common enemy to face together.
You’d think wrong. The price of gas is just another accelerant to ignite our political fury.
As Republicans and conservatives blame our current president, Democrats and liberals blame our current governor, at least in Indiana, for not easing our record pain at the pump. On Wednesday, when I contacted Holcomb’s office about possibly suspending the state’s gas taxes, his response was as predictable as a party-line vote.
“For an Indiana governor to suspend the gas tax through a declaration of an energy emergency, the state must have an existing or projected energy shortfall that would jeopardize life, health and property. We have not met that threshold,” Holcomb said.
“INDOT and the Office of Energy Development have both confirmed that we do not have a shortage or a projected shortage. The states that have suspended the gas tax thus far have done so through the legislature,” he said.
In other words, get used to paying $4.41 a gallon, or more, as we head into summer.