Tax on Gold is a Tax on Money

Mark Finchem wants to eliminate the state capital gains tax on gold coins. Article.
Finchem's argument is as follows:

1. The establishment of the Federal Reserve System in 1913 gave it the power to control the size of the money supply in the form of either printed federal reserve notes or bank ledger entries.
2. The FRS seeks to increase the supply of money by about 2 or 3% per annum, believing that this must be good for the economy.
3. Economics tells us that when the supply of something increases, its price goes down.
4. When the price of money goes down, people experience a decrease in the purchasing power of their money.
5. Ownership of gold, whose price can't be controlled by the FRS, is a way of maintaining one's purchasing power.
6. The state capital gains tax, when applied to gold, prevents Arizonans from using this valuable tool to preserve the purchasing power of their savings.

According to the article, Rep. Ken Clark, D-Phoenix, claimed that "people buy gold coins in hopes of making a  profit." This is not necessarily true. People may buy gold simply to try to protect the purchasing power of their savings from the intended bad consequences of the Federal Reserve System.

Gas Tax Hike

     In a democracy, interest groups can pressure the government to build roads and then attempt to shift the cost of maintaining the roads onto the taxpayers. How does one know how many roads the taxpayers actually want to pay for? Answer: there's no way of knowing. The only way of knowing for sure whether or not a product is demanded is to put it on the market and see if anyone buys it. If the government has the power to force taxpayers to pay for its products, there is no way of knowing if the taxpayer actually wants them.
     HCR 2011 wants to raise the state gasoline tax by $0.10. Article.
Reasons given are as follows:

1. Arizona roads are in bad condition due to lack of funding.
2. Truckers lose over $500,000,000 per year in congestion delays.
3. Rural roads are the fifth most deadly in the nation, due to poor condition.
4. As cars and trucks become more fuel-efficient, a gasoline tax provides less and less revenue.
5. The current fuel tax of $0.18 per gallon was set in 1991. $0.18 no longer buys what it did in 1991 (due to inflation of the money supply by the federal government).
6. Road maintenance funds are diverted to other state programs.
7. Arizona's current gas tax is only 58% of the national average.

     My comments:
     Item 1. Obviously, the current system isn't working.
     Item 2. Since the roads aren't operated as a business, the owner of the road (it could be argued that there isn't any) has no incentive to provide a competitive road service. Not that trucking is necessarily a competitive means of moving freight were the railroads allowed to be run profitably.
     Item 3. Deplorable, and typical of government-provided services.
     Item 4. Obviously, payment for road services should be on the basis of actual use, not purchase of fuel.
     Item 5. Adjusting to inflation is a challenge for all businesses. For a long-term solution, my suggestion would be to legalize gold and silver as money.
     Item 6. This is particularly troubling. If current gas tax funds aren't able to find their way to the road maintenance account, why would anyone expect that a new tax will change the situation?
     Item 7. Don't know why this is relevant. Are other states providing the road services their taxpayers want? If so, how do we know that? What is the average income in other states, and should that be taken into account when calculating what amount of gas tax is appropriate for Arizonans? Also, in light of No. 6, it seems to me that the less money in the hands of government, the better.

     The state has proved itself incapable of managing the roads. The only sane method of providing maintenance fees for public roads is via tolls and users' fees combined with (for example) privatization (for larger highways) and co-operative ownership (for smaller and access roads).
     If roads were run by their owners on a profit basis or as member-maintained co-ops, then we would have an answer to the question of which roads should actually exist, and the roads would be maintained to the degree that users demanded.