Gas is up to $5 a gallon in areas affected by Hurricane Ike, prompting a lot of people to complain of price gouging. But
what is price gouging? Robert Rapier writes about the issue, and feels that it's a question of intent - are prices rising because...
- inventories are short?
- or, because folks get greedy?
We're better off having $10 a gallon gas if it means there's still some in the tanks, than $4 a gallon gas with empty tanks.
My idea would be that the state government should institute an emergency gas tax of at least $2 a gallon during these kinds of natural disasters. The increased price would help reduce supply shortages and the revenue can be given back as a per capita tax rebate or used for disaster relief.
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