Democrats dodging paying of gas taxes

Posted on July 23, 2008

The DNC Host committee - the people preparing for next month’s Democrat Convention in Denver has been skipping payment of the state and federal tax on gas - over 40 cents per gallon. The city (after the practice became public) has ended that practice. The story also relates that the committee members were not even paying for the gas they got at the city’s pumps. The whole issue came up when the Dept of Public Works asked the city council to approve a contract that would have the dept reimbursed for the $9700 already expended on fueling and WASHING of the committees’ vehicles.

The practice, which began four months ago, may have ended hours after its disclosure. An aide to Mayor John Hickenlooper released a statement Tuesday evening saying that Denver 2008 Host Committee members would pay market prices for fuel and would also be liable for all applicable taxes.

Note that is says the committee members will “pay market prices” which seems to imply that either they were not paying at all or were paying some lower than market price.

Denver’s Democrat Mayor tried to deflect the charge of impropriety by claiming the GOP committee in Wisconsin is doing the same, but:

Teresa McFarland, a spokeswoman for the Minneapolis-St. Paul host committee, said its members are getting their gas at public pumps.

“We’re not getting a tax break on fuel,” she said. “That’s not the setup at this end.”

It is not surprising that the Democrat Mayor of Denver should think that the taxpayers should be footing the bill for this - his view is that the taxpayers should foot all the bills, for everything - he is afterall a Democrat!

» Filed Under Reid, Pelosi, Republicans, Democrats, general nonsense, Legislators, Taxes, National Politics