Fridays Off

The teacher in me is starting to get uncomfortable watching pundits blasting Hillary Clinton and John McCain's proposed gas tax holiday. Denunciations of this plan revive memories of seminar sessions when a group of students seeing that one one of their more confident classmates has erred proceed to gang up on her/him, as if the notion that someone else can make a mistake is somehow unimaginable.

That said, The Gas Tax Holiday is a misguided proposal and one that both of these candidates should abandon immediately.

If either of the three candidates wants to enact a proposal that will help people save money on gas prices this summer, then they should propose a plan that benefits companies and communities for adopting four day work-weeks. Instead of a Gas Tax Holiday, make Fridays Off a national initiative and rather than giving individuals measly "rewards" that do nothing to curb unhealthy behavior, give rewards to communities that take up the challenge of helping their residents save the environment and money.

A National Friday's Off plan, or NFO, would work like this companies small and large would either a) adopt four day work weeks for the summer, or b) for those companies that can not offer this option, at least allow employees to work from home one day a week during the summer. In turn employees agree to not only drive to work, but agree to not drive anywhere on this day. The summer is a great time for these car-free days because since fewer young people are in school at the time, there is fewer demand on parents to cart them to and fro.

One can turn to Aaron Newton's recent article extolling the four day work week to learn why it's in the best interests of our candidates to begin lobbying its virtues.

Since Clinton and McCain already have the Gas Tax Holiday on the table for discussion, we can now leverage this opening to push representatives to spend that money rewarding communities that responsibly respond to our energy and economic problems. For example, towns can receive funding that will make positive changes unearthed during NFO permanent. This can include funding to subsidize bike purchases, expansion of bike lanes that will help promote biking year round. Gas tax holiday funding can also be diverted to helping individuals either bolster their at home internet, or make it more affordable for families to get online and upgrade their computers so that more companies can offer their employees the option to work from home.

As Thomas Friedman recently suggested, this nation's leaders have already been on an extended common sense holiday, and we should not let them take America's citizens and our future along on this misguided hiatus. After all, just where George Bush's post-9/11 invitation to go shopping got us.

Comments

[jfor]

Gimmicks, always gimmicks.

We have to grow up and out of this mindset. If you want a greener life then all energy subsidy's going to the any and all carbon based suppliers must be stopped and users should be taxed accordingly.
Fuel tax shold be based on consumption. If you want to drive a hummer, or have a yacht or a private jet or anything else that burns fossil fuels you should pay for that privelage. The boat owner or the RV driver or the ORV enthusiast or snowmobiling, jet ski operator all should pay higher taxes on the fuel they use on these recreational vehicles.

So the toys are now taxed accordingly, the next step is to reward the owners of hybrids and other high mileage vehicles with a significantly lower fuel consumption tax. The rest of us gas guzzlers should pay a rate that makes us want alternatives to gasoline but not break the bank.

Use a big stick and dangle a nice carrot. The people will innovate.

[vipersdad]

HuffPost's Pick

I think Friday Off will never happen. There is another solution. Big tax credits to companies who aggressively encourage telecommuting. After the "dot-bomb" market "correction" in the late 90's/early 2000's, the growing number of telecommuters experienced a correction as well. Companies who were suddenly struggling wanted workers in the office where they could "see them." This is understandable, but a result of immature management practices.
The internet, data sharing software, teleconference bridges, collaboration frameworks, and hundreds of other enabling technologies have not stayed static since 2000 - they have continued to improve in leaps and bounds. Ironically, as many large companies have cut back telecommuting programs, they have simultaneously outsourced large operations to other timezones half-way around the world. So while they are telling U.S. workers that they have to now come in to an office every day, large portions of their workforce are not even awake during the times when the US workers might need to collaborate with them. So what has happened (I know many people for whom this is true) is that the U.S. workers drive to the office every day, only to have to extend their days to work with their India or Asia-based colleagues in the evenings or early hours of the morning.
The amount of fuel potentially saved by widespread telecommuting is substantial. The quality of life benefits as well as the productivity benefits are side-benefits.

[Ferentz LaFargue - Huffpost Blogger]

I agree with you on the problems that have emerged with outsourcing in the Pacific and India.

That said, I'm not sold that we should be giving companies more tax credits. The more tax credits that companies get the more powerful they become and there's a sense of entitlement that has risen in America's corporations that makes many shortsighted and incredibly negligent in terms of how they deal with the communities in which they reside. By offering the benefits to individuals and communities rather than corporations it opens the opportunity for more people to be positively impacted by new solutions. It also encourages people to take more ownership of their behaviors rather than simply adopting to a new corporate mandate. City governments can effectively barter with the companies to convince them that energy saving solutions will benefit everyone.

Additionally, tax breaks work better on a national scale. The impact that they have on local communities is often harder to gauge.

[altohone]

Quote Friedman and you lose us.

Mr. Six More Months deserves ostracism for his own holiday from common sense.


Good companies help their employees buy hybrids because it helps retain good employees, which saves them money.
Greening of companies pays for itself with savings on their energy bills.

I see no problem helping communities, but more corporate welfare isn't needed.
Cut that from your proposal and you may be on to something.