Democrat National Convention Committee Exempting Themselves From Gas Taxes
They’re doing it by using the City of Denver’s fuel pumps which, because they’re government-owned, don’t register state and federal taxes.
Isn’t that illegal? And if it’s not, shouldn’t it be?
The committee hosting the Democratic National Convention is using the city’s gas pumps to fill up on fuel, avoiding state and federal highway taxes, officials said today.
“There’s something there that just doesn’t seem right to me because, in a sense, you’re saying then that the officials who pass the laws are not willing to live by them, and that concerns me,” Councilwoman Jeanne Faatz said.
The issue came up during the council’s weekly meeting with Mayor John Hickenlooper when the Public Works Department requested authorization to be reimbursed by the Denver 2008 Convention Host Committee for use of “fueling facilities, fuel and car washes.”
“By doing it this way, by running it through our Fleet Maintenance, that means that that fuel does not pay state or federal highway taxes,” Faatz said.
It’s worth noting that the Republicans, who are holding their convention in St. Paul, aren’t enjoying any special treatment on gas taxes.
Teresa McFarland, a spokeswoman for the Minneapolis-St. Paul host committee, said they’re getting their gas at the pump.
“We’re not getting a tax break on fuel,” she said. “That’s not the set-up at this end.”
I understand why government gets an exemption from the fuel tax. After all, it’d be a little silly for the government to pay taxes to itself.
That being said, the Democrats aren’t part of the government. They’re a private political party and should have to pay taxes, including sales and gas taxes, just like the rest of us.
Especially when Democrats are in Congress even now trying to raise gas taxes on the rest of us.
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