McCain Wants a Gas Tax Holiday; What About the Dems?
by Andrew Posner, Providence, Rhode Island on 04.28.08
We already know that John McCain is advocating for a suspension of the federal gas tax for the summer in order to ease the recession. But what about the two democratic candidates? Well, as Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton take their battle for the nomination to Indiana, their increasing desperation for garnering votes has spilled over into the question of whether or not McCain's plan would be a sound one. Clinton, who is behind in the delegate count, supports the idea of halting the gasoline tax over the summer, while Obama has spoken out against it, saying "The only way we're going to lower gas prices over the long term is if we start using less oil." Obama has also said that he would want Al Gore to play a central role in forming climate policy.
Clinton claims that the gas tax can be suspended without drying up an important source of revenue for the federal government. How would she pull that off?
A recent ad put out by her campaign argues that "Hillary Clinton knows it's time to act, take some of the windfall profits of big oil to pay to suspend the gas tax this summer, investigate the oil giants for price gouging and collusion." Granted, taking profits away from big oil is always easier said than done, but once again, as with health care and other issues, the difference between the two in terms of actual policy is slight. Rest assured that John McCain has no intention of taking profits away from Big Oil. Meanwhile, both have been flirting with the coal vote as they have advocated for clean coal technology. So who would be the best advocate for environmental issues? We'll leave it to you, our readers, to debate that one. . .
Via: ::Yahoo! News
See Also: ::Obama Refines his Position on Coal, ::Obama Gets a Boost From the Crucial Bicycle Swing Vote, ::Obama Takes Al Gore's Advice on Climate, Would Offer Role in Administration, and ::Who Better to Pull the Nails From USEPA's Coffin? McCain? Clinton? Obama?
While lower gas prices would be nice, a gas tax "holiday" is absolutely the wrong way to go. Americans have already been primed for $4 gas by the media, heck, they've been talking about it since January. Take away the gas taxes and the price will go to $4/gallon anyway. The only difference is, our roads and infrastructure won't be getting the revenue, the oil companies will. Leave the taxes in place, maybe we'll learn to reduce consumption.
Still, I don't expect my fellow Americans to get this. I guess I'm jaded by past experience with short term gain resulting in long-term problems.
I have mixed feelings about it because living in buffalo NY (a city with the highest number of people recieving food stamps and the highest number of unemployed people) I see people who struggle to be able to afford to get to work. Our city has very little public transportation and is the majority of people can not wlak to there jobs. So a decrease in gas prices would come as a huge relief. However I know that it would also most likely cause an increase in consumption which is bad. However it is just for the summer and I think given the state of the economy its a neccesary evil.
clinton says she'll make up for the lack in infrastructure funds by taxing big oil, good luck with that. besides, they'll just come up with some excuse to jack their prices back up (what, you think exxon is going to take such a hit lying down?) and we're right back to square one.
krugman shot down the same idea when bush tested it out in 2000. the fact that a democrat is pushing a policy that george bush pushed, and was laughed at by economists over, 8 years ago is worrisome.
Right, the public needs to be educated and apathy needs to be abolished. Rewarding Americans for their bad driving habits and making it easier for them to drive more, is the exact wrong idea. It teaches them nothing.
It's the exact same thing as these asinine rebate checks we're getting. Bush is trying to win our graces, McCain is trying to win our vote, both are doing this using cash.
High and accelerating gas prices are the best thing for the environment because the financial stress caused by the high prices will force Americans to modify their consumption of petrol. As a result, net consumption will fall over time, and eventually, will perhaps disappear because a long period of financial stress caused by high oil prices will result in petrol-less activity, such as bike-riding. Big Oil is rolling in it now, but they'll be in a recession themselves soon enough.
High and accelerating gas prices are the best thing for the environment because the financial stress caused by the high prices will force Americans to modify their consumption of petrol. As a result, net consumption will fall over time, and eventually, will perhaps disappear because a long period of financial stress caused by high oil prices will result in petrol-less activity, such as bike-riding. Big Oil is rolling in it now, but they'll be in a recession themselves soon enough.
I'd say Clinton's crazy if she thinks she can just take "windfall profits" from the oil companies, but I know she's really just lying. The oil companies are only doing what corporations do, get used to it; gas is never going to be cheaper (except for briefly before the November elections). We consumers keep telling the oil companies, in effect, "gas isn't too expensive yet" we keep driving frivolously in hugely wasteful vehicles. They control the supply, we control the demand; we could have an effect on gas prices but, collectively, have chosen not to.
Gary
Just to retract a little bit of bias from the article, I've been listening to both of their speeches here in Oregon, and also Bill Clinton.
My understanding is the short-term policy of Clinton is to tax the gas companies directly, easing the taxes at the pump. That was a short-term solution; her long term solution is a vigorous investment in alternate modes of transportation: Bike / Ped / Transit. Something that has been taken away year-by-year for the last seven years.
Although many more bikers showed up at Obama's speech, I have yet to hear him profess any interest in biking as a serious mode of travel. Biking has succeeded to do so here in Portland.
Just contributing; there's more solutions than lowering gas tax or whatever.
Good for Obama for sticking to his guns. You have to respect a guy for taking a stand that is going to be unpopular with the voters at this critical time in his campaign. I think this shows a lot of character, at a time when we couldn't need it MORE.
Good for Obama for sticking to his guns. You have to respect a guy for taking a stand that is going to be unpopular with the voters at this critical time in his campaign. I think this shows a lot of character, at a time when we couldn't need it MORE.
Clinton is pandering again. A tax holiday is a terrible idea. High gasoline prices may be the only thing that will push America into more fuel-efficient cars, driving less and taking public transportation more. Last year, as prices rose, people bought 38% more hybrids while overall new car sales slumped 3%. Let's get those prices even higher. How about lowering speed limits to the 55 mph they were in the '70s. That would help people save money at the pump. Instead, McCain and his co-sponsors Joe Lieberman and John Warner, authors of the Global Warming bill now in the Senate, want to please the public and let them maintain their wasteful habits.
I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but when will our citizens figure out that we need to start paying the true cost of oil rather than constantly screaming for cheaper gas prices! Once we get to $7/gallon or so, we'll be close to what it's worth considering the environmental impact and dwindling resources - don't people realize that we use oil for thousands of other applications than just to put in our SUVs? Good luck making IV tubing and ventilators for hospitals when the oil is gone.
Higher prices will also force people to move away from the sprawling suburbia that cheap oil has created and into more efficient concentrated living that utilizes public transportation, walking and biking. A gas tax holiday is certainly not the answer, just like the brilliant "economic stimulus package", it's just a nearsighted waste of money to appease a few people screaming about gas prices without actually addressing the real sources of the problem.
Unfortunately, typical American governance.
The gas tax in the US is capped at .18 or .24 per gallon, so we are talking about less than 10% of the actual price of gas. That's not going to make much of an impact on the pricing at the pump. It also shows how absolutely crazy the profits are for the petrol companies. 95% of the cost of gas is going towards them, not 'guvmint programs', or our roads and highways.
I think the tax should be higher, with exclusions for truckers, maybe cabbies, and those who need to use cars for mobilitiy like people with disabilities. If you have a handicap placard, you don't pay tax. We are still paying 75% less than what it is in most countries in Europe, so 4 bucks a gallon is a bargain, to say nothing about comparing it to a $2.00 bottle of Poland Spring or Evian water
This holiday would kill the economy of the United States. Road and bridge (transportation) construction is one of the strong sectors of the economy, and this holiday would put more people out of work. Contact your state's representatives to stop this idea before it gets a head of steam.
How much do we pay in ethanol subsidies per year? Let's get rid of those and forget a gas tax holiday.
If Hillary wants to know why she failed, She has no further to look than the day she hopped on John McCain's coat tails for a free ride. That path leads downhill.
She made very few serious errors, but this was one, and her earlier support for the war was another.
However, she is still a powerful person with lots of great ideas.