Last May
I told you about Randy Melchert, candidate for the Wisconsin State
Assembly--24th District. Although that is not my district, his "Melchert Plan"
to lower area gasoline prices by 10% is appealing. I don't have to live
in the Menomonee Falls/Germantown area to be in favor of that!
From his website:
...[His] three-part plan would eliminate
the Minimum Markup Law, lower the state Gas Tax to the national
average, and end the forced use of Reformulated Gas.While gas prices have risen nationwide, gas in Wisconsin has risen
more than other states because Wisconsin has one of the ten highest
gasoline tax rates in the nation! The Tax Foundation shows how gas
taxes in Wisconsin are 3 cents higher than Indiana, 5 cents higher than
Ohio, almost 11 cents higher than Minnesota and Iowa, almost 15 cents
higher than South Carolina and Kentucky, and 19 cents higher than New
Jersey
Now I could understand if the gas tax was used for highway
maintenance and road repair, but when Governor Doyle can steal $240
million from the transportation fund to cover the rest of his budget,
we're paying too much in gas taxes.
On his website, Melchert includes a series of interesting charts, graphs, and lots of statistics that illustrate how Wisconsin drivers pay more for gasoline than most other states. There is also a savings calculator where you can punch in your numbers to see how the minimum mark up, reformulation, and higher gas taxes affect you. On average, I probably would save $300 a year, but if I would calculate the savings for our entire household, we would be saving somewhere around $900 a year.
Since we just returned from a trip out west, I can confirm we found gas prices elsewhere much cheaper. The added bonus was that we could get non-ethanol gasoline in other states, giving us more miles per gallon.
For example: in a 2 day period on Aug. 16th and 17th, regular gasoline in Sioux Falls, SD was $3.49/gal, Willmar, MN was $3.62/gal, but in Wisconsin, reformulated gas (the only kind available) in Black River Falls was $3.79/gal.
Check out the information on Melchert's website, and if you would like to save 10% on your gasoline bills, contact your representatives and senators and ask them to implement the Melchert Plan!
If I lived in the 24th District, I would be voting for Randy Melchert come Sept. 9th. But I live in the 14th District, so my vote happily goes to Leah Vukmir.
Links:
Brookfield7, Fairly Conservative, Betterbrookfield, Mark Levin, Vicki Mckenna
