Share the pain, erase the federal debt

I am sure I will take some flack for this. But here goes anyhow. Our elected leaders are mostly talk and no action. Why? Because they know we as a country are short of the cash it takes to get things done. Remember it is always the money. The rest of us are just whining, and hoping somebody else will fix the problems.

So here's an idea. Add a $1 tax to all the gasoline sold in this country for one year. Let the individual states collect it, keep half, and send the rest to the federal government. Stipulate that 10 percent has to be used for transportation needs and the rest for deficit reduction/debt repayment — no exceptions.

I don't know how much money this would generate, but I bet there is someone who could make a good estimate. My guess is billions. There will be some pain, but it will be shared by all of us.

The President and Congress need to take their heads out of the sand and propose some tough measures to address these tough times. We all are going to feel some pain, but better now than later.

Rip Salmon, Linthicum