The Libertarian Party has been digitally signing their press releases for a
few years now. A copy of the latest one is attached.
Date: Tue, 21 Mar 2000 23:43:23 -0800
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Release: gas taxes
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Libertarian Party announcements list)
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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NEWS FROM THE LIBERTARIAN PARTY
2600 Virginia Avenue, NW, Suite 100
Washington DC 20037
World Wide Web: http://www.LP.org
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For release: March 22, 2000
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For additional information:
George Getz, Press Secretary
Phone: (202) 333-0008 Ext. 222
E-Mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
=======================================
Put a moratorium on gas taxes --
and let Americans save 42c a gallon
WASHINGTON, DC -- Federal and state politicians should impose
an immediate one-year moratorium on gasoline taxes, the Libertarian
Party suggested today -- which would save the average consumer 42c on
every gallon of gas they buy.
"Don't blame OPEC if you're aggravated by high gasoline
prices," said Steve Dasbach, the party's national director. "If not for
greedy politicians gouging you at the pump, Americans would be paying
just over a buck a gallon for gasoline.
"It's time to break the grip of the real OPEC -- the
Organization of Politicians Extracting Cash -- and end the highway
robbery of sky-high gasoline taxes."
This week -- as gas prices climbed past the $1.50 mark on their
way to $2.00 a gallon -- politicians in Washington, DC debated whether
to offer modest tax breaks to the oil industry to spur production, roll
back 1993's tiny 4.3c gas tax increase, or put diplomatic pressure on
oil-producing nations.
Meanwhile, 41% of Americans in a recent USA Today/CNN/Gallup
poll said that skyrocketing gas prices were causing them "financial
hardship," families have started to cut back on non-essential trips,
and truckers have rallied in Washington to protest high prices.
But the discussion about runaway gas prices ignores one central
fact, said Dasbach: Most of the recent surge in gas prices could be
erased instantly if politicians simply agreed to suspend the 43
different taxes imposed on the production and distribution of gasoline.
In fact, politicians now rake in almost as much per gallon as
the oil-producing countries do, since the cost of crude oil is 52c a
gallon, while the "cost of politicians" is 42c, he noted.
And that cost has been rising steeply: Between 1990 and 1999,
state and federal gasoline taxes jumped from 27c per gallon to 42c.
If a gas tax moratorium were put into place, the price of a
gallon of gas would immediately plummet by 54.2c in Hawaii, 53.7c in
Connecticut, 51.4c in Nevada, 50.4c in California, and so on, said
Dasbach. And consumers would save a whopping $67 billion in one year.
"Instead of paying $1.50 a gallon, consumers would only pay
about $1.08 -- and save an average of $422 this year in gasoline
taxes," he said. "With gas prices going through the roof and average
Americans suffering, how can politicians justify continuing such
scandalous taxes?"
Of course, Libertarians don't claim that ending gas taxes would
eliminate all fluctuations in gas prices, said Dasbach.
"There will always be spikes in price, depending on supply and
demand, the weather, decisions by OPEC and other oil-producing nations,
and so on. And we recognize that Americans can take partial
responsibility for their gasoline bill by purchasing fuel-efficient
cars and trucks. But politicians must also take responsibility for
causing inflation through taxation."
Do Libertarians think that gas taxes should be eliminated for
just one year?
"Of course not," said Dasbach. "But people are suffering now,
and we want to get a proposal on the table that could be acted on
immediately. We think that once people start paying the honest market
cost of gasoline -- minus the hidden costs of greedy politicians --
they will want to make the moratorium permanent. Americans have
suffered though oil embargoes in the past; wouldn't it be great if we
could make politicians suffer through a tax embargo for one year?"
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The Libertarian Party http://www.lp.org/
2600 Virginia Ave. NW, Suite 100 voice: 202-333-0008
Washington DC 20037 fax: 202-333-0072
For subscription changes, send a message to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> with
just the word "subscribe" or "unsubscribe" in the subject line.
Or use the WWW form at: http://www.lp.org/lp-announce-form.html
At 09:23 AM 3/22/00, you wrote:
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>Hi there,
>
>My employer, DoveBid (www.dovebid.com) has just implemented a policy of
>digitally signing all press releases. as far as we can tell, no firm has
>ever done this before.
>
>I'm curious as to what you all make of this. The implementation can be
>seen at http://www.dovebid.com/os/news/press_room.asp
>
>Cheers,
>
>Bill
>
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--
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