Something we can all to to help the country on 9/11/2011
Sunday, September 11, 2011 at 9:20AM I am just a musician moonlighting as a small business owner so I will keep this brief. I have had this idea for about 9 1/2 years and today I am going to share it. So I humbly submit:
The 9/11 Patriot Tax. A 9 cent tax on every gallon of gas purchased during the next 11 months and all proceeds go directly to pay down the debt incurred by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. (Commercial vehicles exempt)
It could be implemented over night and it would be very easy to track the revenue. We could get a a little website up with one of those popular debt clocks showing the money owed on the wars and the interest payments we are racking up. Next to it could be a weekly balance of how much money the Patriot Tax is collecting and at the end of every week we apply it to our debt. Just like transferring money to a credit card when you do your online banking. After the 11 months is up, the Patriot Tax cannot be renewed without approval of a super majority of congress and it can only be used to pay down military debt or health care costs for veterans of the wars.
The USA uses roughly 320,500,000 gallons of gas a day. I figure $.09 x 320,500,000 gallons x 330 days = Well, actually my calculator literally doesn't go that high, but its a nice chunk of change nonetheless.
or, we could keep doing nothing like we have been for the last 10 years.
Wether you agree with the decision to go to war or not, the fact is they have not been paid for and most of that debt is owed to foreign countries. How about a tiny bit of collective self sacrifice on the part of the American people to ease the burden we are passing down to future generations and maybe help with the health care expenses of all these returning veterans? Who knows? If we try it, we may actually like it.
Colin Gawel lives in Columbus, Ohio and plays in the band Watershed and owns a small coffee shop. He is a husband, a father and he has to leave now for band practice with The Lonely Bones. Please scroll down for list of upcoming events. He would also like to see you fanatical types pass this on to Washington and get this thing done. www.colingawel.com
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