(02-16-2018, 08:37 PM)MalabarJag Wrote:

(02-16-2018, 08:15 PM)americus 2.0 Wrote: Seriously? How about those who are on disability- legitimately? I mean the ones who can't work due to their disability. Or retired folks who actually prepared for retirement but still have a fixed income? These people are largely considered "poor" because of their fixed income or inability to generate income. Should they feel the pain, too?

Neither of those are driving to work every day, so the pain in this case is minimal.

The Fair Tax solved the problem by rebating the tax if someone spent all of the poverty-level income on taxable items. Even though those at or below poverty level paid no tax, there was still an incentive to not raise the tax. That's where the "pain" is needed, like the pain that warns you not to stick your hand in a fire. No tax increase, no pain.

Partially true. 

Many are active in the community or in their church which has them out and about quite a bit. My neighbor is a retired nurse and drives to her daughter's house everyday to look after her grandkids and that's across town. 

Just because people aren't in the workforce anymore doesn't mean they're sitting at home watching TV all day. The money retired folks used to spend on gas is now spent on prescription meds and frequent doctor visits they didn't used to have to worry about when they were younger. If medicare or the VA doesn't cover the cost of those meds it's coming out of pocket. 

So yes, a gas tax would hurt folks for these reasons. And as someone else already pointed out, the rise in cost of gas raises prices on everything else, especially food. Everyone still has to buy food, clothing, etc.

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