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| Articles about Gas Tax |
| McCain: Please Stop with the Gas Tax Holiday Talk | | 2008-07-26 23:00:00 | | This morning on ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos, John McCain was interviewed by Stephanopoulos. And during a discussion on energy, McCain mentions his gas tax holiday proposal again as a way to relieve consumers, and then Stephanopoulos steps in.STEPHANOPOULOS: Not a single economist in the country said it'd work.MCCAIN: Yes. And there's no economist in the country that knows very well the low-income American who drives the furthest, in the oldest automobile, that sometimes can't even afford to go to work.STEPHANOPOULOS: But they all say that that's...MCCAIN: And they haven't met...STEPHANOPOULOS: ... not who's (ph) going to get the benefit. The oil companies, the gas companies are going to absorb...MCCAIN: You know, they..STEPHANOPOULOS: ... any reduction.MCCAIN: ... they say that. But one, it didn't happen before, and two, we wouldn't let it happen. We wouldn't let it -- Americans wouldn't let them absorb that.STEPHANOPOULOS: How would you prevent that?MCCAIN: We would mak | | By: Tax Policy Blog | | |
| | | Democrats Nix Gas Tax Holiday– Offer Gas Tax Hike Instead | | 2008-07-20 18:07:31 | | Worst. Congress. Ever.So is this part of the secret Pelosi plan to bring down gas prices?Evidently $4.50 for a gallon of gas is not enough. Democrats want to tax gas another dime per gallon.FOX News reported:
The political vision of a summer gas tax holiday died a quick death in Congress, losing to a view [...] | | By: Free Shared Mobile | | |
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| McCain Still Pushing For Gas Tax Holiday | | 2008-06-19 23:53:38 | | You'd think that considering how well that worked for Obama's last opponent he'd have dropped the subject by now.From CNN:McCain resurrects call for gas tax holidayWASHINGTON (CNN) – With gas prices reaching a national average of four dollars a gallon — a record high — John McCain is planning to resurrect his call for a national gas tax holiday, which became a staple of his stump speech in late April and early May. A McCain aide told CNN's Dana Bash on Monday that the Arizona senator planned to plug the gas tax holiday in public statements throughout the day as a message to voters that he understands the plight of working families in a tough economy. Before a fundraiser in Richmond, Virginia on Monday, McCain mentioned the gas tax holiday in remarks to a smaller event for about 40 high-dollar donors. "That was derided by Sen. Obama and others as a gimmick," McCain said, but added that working people and truckers would appreciate it. "I don't pretend that it's an answer to our ene | | By: Dyre Portents | | |
| | Rothman says McCain's gas-tax holiday proposal is a gimmick | | 2008-06-13 13:46:00 | | U.S. Sen and presidential candidate John McCain, in defending his gas tax holiday gimmick by saying that the "gas tax goes to projects that are unnecessary and unwanted," showed just how out of touch he was with the people of New Jersey, who are spending more time stuck in traffic and less with their families. John McCain's plan would cost New Jersey $190 million and over 6,600 jobs, which are both necessary and wanted.At best, eliminating the federal gas tax would result in a savings of about $28 total for the average American motorist for a four-month tax holiday. However, it is more likely that the big oil companies will not pass along those savings to their customers.U.S. Rep. Steve Rothman issued the following statement about McCain's support for a gas tax gimmick:"By now, John McCain should have gotten the message that eliminating the federal gas tax will do little to nothing to reduce the price of gas for American families, but will instead endanger one source of funds Jerseyan | | By: The Hudson Line Blog | | |
| | Have High Gas Prices Left You Feeling Down? Increase the Gas Tax! | | 2008-06-12 23:00:00 | | With gas prices being what they are, many in the US and around the world have suggested that we temporarily suspend the 18.4 cents-per-gallon gas tax. The argument is that it would help working families make ends meet during this period of rising costs (we have written previously on why this is a bad idea). But on the other side of the spectrum is Roger Harrabin, environmental analyst for the BBC. He sees the gas tax issue a little differently. From his article High Fuel Prices: Good or Bad?:Say for sake of illustration that the price of a gallon of petrol in Highfueltaxland is 25p and the tax on a gallon is £1. That makes petrol at the pumps £1.25.Now say the price of petrol doubles to 50p. The driver at the pump in Hightaxland pays £1.50 - an increase of 20%.The opposite extreme is Zerotaxland. There when the cost of oil doubles from 25p pence to 50p, the cost as the pump doubles too - sending a shock through the economy.It hurts all the more becau | | By: Tax Policy Blog | | |
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| Cut The Federal Gas Tax? Great! But how great exactly...? | | 2008-05-06 09:36:00 | | This story has been floating around now for a week or 2. The proposal to cut the Federal Gas Tax to help the consumers in the time of this sluggish economy by saving a few cents. A few cents does add up but to make up for this tax, the government plans to give a windfall profits tax to the companies instead.How does this help or hurt anyone? It helps the consumer for a short time but puts a smoke screen on other problems they face ( Cost of living, food, etc. ) and hurts business. Granted, the oil companies make millions to billions a year but to tax a profit because your business is doing well is a very Marxist way of going about things. No company should have to hurt by the United States Government because the government chooses to be irresponsible. The government is at fault here not the companies nor' OPEC or any other affiliate of these companies. The United States Government is responsible entirely for the high prices. The price of everything, not just oil, is high and going h | | By: The Pissed Off Citizen | | |
| | Gas tax holiday a slick piece of propaganda | | 2008-05-06 08:36:24 | | Looks like we're getting better at seeing through election-year propaganda. A CBS News/New York Times poll released yesterday said 49% of those polled thought the holiday a bad idea, 45% thought the tax a good idea, with 4% undecided.Today's Boston Globe reports that SUV sales for April alone fell more than 32%, while sale of small cars increased 16%.Seems like the high gas prices are forcing us to do what we should do, anyway: drive less, conserve what we have, and use public transportation. Has the tide turned about gas-guzzling cars, or will we go right back to our old ways if-- a very BIG if-- gas prices go down?Atom
| | By: Michaelann Land | | |
| | Federal Gas Tax Holiday Wouldn't Apply to Nevada, California, Oklahoma and Tennessee | | 2008-05-05 23:00:00 | | Even if the federal gas tax holiday was implemented, it would not apply (fully) to gasoline sold in four states. That's because California, Nevada, Oklahoma, and Tennessee each has a provision in the state's tax law which states that if the federal gas tax is lowered, that state's own gas tax will increase by some amount. This is theoretically designed to maintain transportation spending in the state.Here is a link to a Taxadmin.org page citing the provisions of the four states. Here's California's:If the federal fuel tax is reduced below the rate of nine cents ($0.09) per gallon and federal financial allocations to this state for highway and exclusive public mass transit guideway purposes are reduced or eliminated correspondingly, the tax rate imposed by this section, on and after the date of the reduction, shall be increased by an amount so that the combined state and federal tax rate per gallon equals the following: (1) Twenty-three cents ($0.23) during 1990, on and after Augus | | By: Tax Policy Blog | | |
| | An Even Worse Gas Tax Holiday Method Proposed in Missouri | | 2008-05-04 23:00:00 | | As far as temporary gas tax holidays go, the Tax Foundation's position has long been that they're all bad. But even within gas tax holidays, there are bad and worse. And this one being suggested in the Missouri legislature is the worst.You could get a break at the gas pumps in Missouri this summer if a bill gets the approval of the Legislature and the governor. It would lift the state’s gasoline tax for the summer – in a way.The state’s gas tax is 17 cents on every gallon. If the bill becomes law, however, it wouldn’t mean 17 cents would drop off the prices at the pumps.Gas prices are getting harder and harder to handle. In the Springfield area, regular unleaded was around $3.37 a gallon on Thursday. So word of a price cut has drivers excited.“I think that's a fantastic idea! Anything that would cut gas prices down a little bit for us would be a great idea,” said one person.The Missouri House gave initial approval to the measure, which woul | | By: Tax Policy Blog | | |
| | Gas Tax Holiday | | 2008-05-04 18:02:45 | |
Is the gas tax holiday a realistic proposal or is it just political pandering? FactCheck.org does a great job of analyzing it and showing that it is not a good idea. It seems that most, if not all, economic experts feel the suspension of the gas tax for the summer is a questionable proposal. If this isn't political pandering, then it means that Hillary Clinton and John McCain feel they know better than the experts or have economic advisers that may not be giving good advice. Either scenario is not a good one. We don't need another President who believes he or she has good instincts and surrounds themselves with cronies who give bad advice. Of course, the gas tax holiday most likely is political pandering. It is nothing more than an attempt to buy votes for the possibility of a few dollars a week during the summer. The sad part is that most likely it will work. Political pandering is just like negative campaigning, we say we don't like it, but it usually is eff | | By: Miscellaneous Reflexions | | |
| | Democrats say Gas Tax Holiday is “DOA” | | 2008-05-02 22:22:41 | | Democrats love to tax, tax, tax. There is no secret to that, we all know it is true. A couple of weeks ago Republican turncoat John McCain proposed suspending the 18.4 cent a gallon tax for the summer, a proposal Hillary Clinton quickly glommed onto. If Hillary wasn’t running for president she would never agree [...] | | By: Wake Up America | | |
| | Distributional Effects of Gas Tax Holiday | | 2008-05-01 23:00:00 | | Using data on who owns shares in U.S. oil companies combined with household financial data in the Survey of Consumer Finances, the Tax Foundation has done a distributional analysis of the proposed gas tax holiday and windfall profits taxes. Note that the report shows how the estimated savings from a gas tax holiday under both assumptions: (1) that the tax cut is merely capitalized into higher prices for gasoline (the economists' consensus) and (2) that the tax cut is fully passed forward to consumers.Here is what the table looks like for a gas tax holiday that is not passed onto consumers (or equivalently a windfall profits tax on oil companies).Average Tax Savings Per Familiy from Proposed Policies:Income QuintileWindfall Profits Tax Burden per Family (Short-Run)Gas Tax Holiday Savings (Economists' Assumption)Bottom 20%$6 $6 Second 20%$10 $10 Middle 20%$24 $24 Fourth 20%$48 $48 80-90%$68 $68 Top 10%$558 $558 Sources and notes: See full paper.Note that these tables and those in th | | By: Tax Policy Blog | | |
| | The Worst of the Gas Tax Debate | | 2008-04-30 23:00:00 | | We present to you the worst of the gas tax and windfall profits tax debate:(1) “Barack Obama doesn’t understand the effect of high gas prices on the American economy,” McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds said in a statement. “Sen. Obama voted for a gas tax reduction before he opposed it, he has no plan for relief from record-high gas prices for Americans this summer and he’s the empty-tank candidate in this race.On the issue of the gas tax holiday, Barack Obama is correct. On the issue of the windfall profits tax, Obama is just pandering. But Senator McCain's proposal won't bring relief from record-high gas prices either.(2) “There are times a president will take a position that a group of quote-unquote experts will agree with and there are times when a president will take a position that a group of quote-unquote experts won’t agree with it,” campaign spokesman Howard Wolfson told reporters today, “Sen. Clinton believes this is the right | | By: Tax Policy Blog | | |
| | Democrat Proposes 50 Cent Gas Tax Increase | | 2008-03-20 19:34:02 | | Democrats claim that the middle class is worse off than ever before. Democrats claim that more people are living paycheck to paycheck than ever before. Democrats also claim that gas prices are crippling most Americans. Democrats also claim that they care more about the middle class than Republicans. So, how do Democrats show us how [...] | | By: Wake Up America | | |
| | Minnesota Raises Gas Tax | | 2008-02-27 00:00:00 | | The Minnesota state legislature has overridden a veto by Gov. Tim Pawlenty that will raise the gas tax per gallon by a nickel. Pawlenty argued that it wasn't right to raise taxes on Minnesota families. While that question is certainly worth debating, where was this Gov. Tim Pawlenty two years ago when he signed into law a bill passed by the state legislature that raised sales taxes on families in Hennepin County (Minneapolis) by $392 million without their approval to pay for a new baseball stadium for the Minnesota Twins? | | By: Tax Policy Blog | | |
| | Lawmakers Must Examine Federal GovernmentÂs Role in Transportation Before Raising Gas Tax | | 2007-08-30 07:00:00 | | Several proposals have recently been put forth by members of Congress to raise the federal excise tax on gasoline. Some lawmakers see raising the gas tax as a way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and some see it as a potential source of revenue for improving the nation's infrastructure. A recent Baltimore Sun editorial targets the use of earmarked gasoline tax revenue:A proposal to raise the federal gasoline tax to repair the nation's 70,000 faulty bridges might have a better chance if it hadn't been for the "Bridge to Nowhere."The infamous Alaska structure designed to serve a handful of remote citizens became a symbol of what's wrong with the practice of letting federal lawmakers "earmark" tax dollars for their pet projects: The money is not being spent according to safety and transportation priorities.Before Congress asks taxpayers to pony up more money to fix failing bridges, it must abandon this pork barrel process and ensure instead that transporta | | By: Tax Policy Blog | | |
| | Don Young Suggests Possible Increase in Federal Gas Tax | | 2007-08-09 07:00:00 | | It isn't everyday that you hear a Republican member of Congress from Alaska calling for an increase in taxes on gasoline. But then again, Rep. Don Young has little to lose with fiscal conservatives, given his infamous support for the Bridge to Nowhere, which was eventually scrapped following public outcry.From the Associated Press:The Minneapolis bridge disaster that suddenly is the symbol of the nation's crumbling infrastructure could tip the scales in favor of billions of dollars in higher gasoline taxes for repairs coast to coast. There are 500 bridges around the country similar to the Minneapolis span, and "these are potential deathtraps," says Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, former chairman of the House Transportation Committee. "We have to, as a Congress, grasp this problem. And yes, I would even suggest, fund this problem with a tax," he says. "May the sky not fall on me." One-quarter of the nation's bridges, including the one in Minneapolis, have been | | By: Tax Policy Blog | | |
| | New Jersey and New York Receive More in Tolls than Gas Tax Receipts | | 2007-06-19 07:00:00 | | fThe Tax Foundation has posted a new table to the website comparing how different states receive revenue from gas taxes versus the money collected from toll roads. Four states—New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and Alaska—receive more revenue from toll collections than from gas tax receipts. The Empire State collects over four times more from tolls than gas taxes. Some states have no toll revenue.Why do some states rely so heavily on tolls while others merely raise revenue through gas taxes? Using tolls as a user fee for roads is an easier way to export tax burdens to out-of-towners because those who drive on roads with tolls (typically interstates) are more likely to be out-of-towners than those traveling on local roads. Plus, it is much more efficient to have a toll road on an interstate where entry is easily excludable than having someone pay a toll for each time he/she makes a turn inside a city from 1st Street onto 2nd Street.Also, any history student will know that | | By: Tax Policy Blog | | |
| | Gas Tax Holiday Debate in Connecticut | | 2007-05-23 07:00:00 | | With gas prices again approaching record highs, many lawmakers at the state level are responding with the "do anything" mentality, which typically includes short-run gas tax holidays. The latest comes from the state of Connecticut, courtesy of NBC-30 Hartford.Republicans in the state House of Representatives are fuming after they were turned away by majority Democrats in their attempt to cut the state's gas tax this summer. Republicans want to suspend the state's 25-cent-per-gallon gas tax from Memorial Day to Labor Day. House Minority Leader Lawrence Cafero Jr., a Republican from Norwalk, proposed an amendment, but Democratic leaders took the proposal off the House floor. Republicans are accusing Democrats of ignoring the needs of taxpayers. They say the state's $846 million budget surplus is more than large enough to cover the $120 million in revenue that would be lost from suspending the tax.Gas tax holidays are typically bad tax policy. First, the re | | By: Tax Policy Blog | | |
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