While I would like to pay less for gas, I agree with Barack Obama on this issue. Here’s why:

1. Gas tax revenue helps fund the Highway Trust Fund. This fund helps finance bridge and road repairs. Without money to correct aging infrastructure, our roads and bridges could become unsafe. In addition, the people who perform the repair work could lose their jobs because there isn’t funding to keep them employed.

Decreased tax revenue could lead the government to borrow in order to finance bridge and road repairs.

2. Gas prices could be artificially inflated when people have access to cheaper gas. This is a simple economics 101 situation. Lower prices create demand and more demand drives up prices.

I found a nice gas tax holiday calculator over at JabberWonk.com. I plugged my numbers into it to see how much I might save if the gas tax holiday is approved.

Since I’ve started riding my bike to work, the miles I drive a week probably aren’t 100. However, if I were to drive to work every day, these numbers would be pretty close. Even with these higher estimates, my total savings for the 15 weeks covered by the gas tax holiday would be $9.20. In the end, I would rather deal with spending $9.20 than the issues I outlined above.

What about you? Do you think a gas tax holiday would ease the financial burden that some consumers are feeling?