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Gas tax holiday translated: You get $30 to help pay back the 10 billion this will cost the federal government
The gas tax holiday is an "old politics" gimmick. I would have expected this from the Bush administration. Or someone running for office.
The Senator from New York is so in touch with the poor and middle class that she'll give them a half-tank of gas.
But not for free. It will cost the federal government an estimated 10 billion. Where is the government going to get that kind of money?
Out of the pockets of the poor and middle class.
Taxes are a real bitch.
So in addition to scaring people into voting for her, the Senator from New York will pay you to vote for her.
And then charge you for it later.
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/04/a_holiday_from_gas_prices.html
Comments (16)
Right on-- Thank you.
What I'd like to see is a sixty-second commercial from Obama explaining why this is such a tawdry gimmick, and then
1) details his $150 Billion alternative energy "Apollo Program"
2) proposes an actually meaningful temporary tax credit for truckers and other working-class people whose livelihood is truly tied to the cost of filling their tank. Maybe also a public transportation credit to incentivize the use of existing mass transit options? (how about it? just floating the idea...)
April 29, 2008 4:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
I like these. The second suggestion is great, especially the public transit element. Public transportation is key in reducing our dependence on oil - currently in many areas the existing systems are very poor, but with some leadership and a federal help they could seriously ease the burden of the price paid at the pump and the price paid at the ozone layer.
April 29, 2008 5:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is all too true. I would love to see Obama take up the "lack of specifics" argument, and this is a good place to start.
As for public transportation, it's great for larger cities, but is far less viable in rural communities with lower population densities. A tax credit will go alot further for helping folks outside of metropolitan areas.
April 29, 2008 7:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
There's another angle that hasn't been looked at, if money is taken out and roads aren't being fixed it means that there are thousands of construction workers that aren't being paid to do the job. It means that unemployment spikes up as well and the economy continues to be depressed.
April 29, 2008 5:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
The linked article is labeled as a fact checker, but in fact it's a blog post, and ridiculous propoganda at that.
If fuel prices are temporarily held down, it's more than $30 directly. 18 cents per gallon adds up VERY quickly. (And P.S. $30/month is valuable money to some people, in case you are so well-off that you forgot.)
On TOP of that: You DO realize that food and other products are shipped, and that costs of these things depend on fuel BIG TIME, right? Have you BEEN to the grocery store lately? In fact, held-down trucking costs is the most likely effect of this.
April 29, 2008 5:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
It adds up fast, all right. It adds up to $30. The average person drives 1000-1200 miles per month. At 20 mpg, that works out to 55 gallons.
$0.184/gallon x 55 gallons = $10.12 per month, or about $30 for the whole three month "holiday".
While fuel costs do make up a significant portion of food costs, the gas tax is a tiny part of it. (Remember, agricultural fuel is not subject to the tax.) At 18.4 cents/gallon, that works out to about 5% of the pump price. If 20% of that $2 for a dozen eggs is fuel costs (it's nowhere near that high), that 5% reduction nets you a savings of about 2 cents.
Don't spend it all in one place.
April 30, 2008 1:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
Sorry, it's not $30 a month.
$30 a month in savings, would be 167 gallons of gas.
167 gallons X 18 cents = $30.00
I don't know the avg fuel economy, but if it's 20mpg, that's 3,340 miles per month?
That's ridiculous.
An average person will get $30 the whole summer.
April 29, 2008 6:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
Whoever complained about the link, I encourage you to post some other link that accurately discloses what the "gas tax holiday" is really about.
But I assure you that it's every bit the scam I say it is.
April 29, 2008 6:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
Here's a link to a bit on yesterday's All Things Considered, in which Leonard Burman, director of the Tax Policy Center (which NPR describes as a non-partisan think tank) explains that there as some "pesky economics" that get in the way of a gas tax holiday having much, if any, impact on consumer gas prices:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90041699
April 30, 2008 2:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
You've got to love how ineffectual a campaigner Hillary Clinton is. Rev. Wright is all over the news for days on end, she's heading toward a crucial election in the state of Indiana and right when she might conceivably be able to get out ahead of him on any issue she might choose.. what does she do?
April 29, 2008 7:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) quoted in the W. Post today saying that Obama's right in calling this "holiday" a scam. Let's hope this means Hoyer is leaning Obama.
April 30, 2008 1:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Here's the link:
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/04/30/hoyer_sides_with_obama_on_gas.html
April 30, 2008 1:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
The reality is the price of gasoline is the price the market supports. If you get rid of the $.18 tax, isn't going to change the price paid at the pump. It just changes who the $.18 is going to - to the oil producer, the refiner and the reseller instead of the federal coffers.
Worse yet, psychologically it gives the impression that you're saving money at the pump, driving comsumption and prices up, having the exact opposite of the intended effect. This is why government intervention in markets is a bad idea.
Since the price of gas is due to fundamentals - the one REAL thing that could be done to make it cheaper is to address the dollar crisis. The fed needs to acknowledge its loosening has failed and begin to raise interest rates. This makes for a housing market adjustment that is short and sharp rather than a 20-year japan-style slump that we're trying to create with the current policy. The theories of academic economists like Bernanke are based in flawed assumption and aren't valid. That flawed assumption is that actor behave rationally. We've all read the posts on here, so we know it's not true
Given that the official inflation rates are cooked books, real interest rates are actually negative. The fed is trying to inflate its way out of a housing crisis that resulted from excessively low interest rates. Vicious cycle anyone? The real consequence will be that baby boomer retirement savings are decimated by 10% plus inflation in lead up to their retirement years.
Bad Bad Bad ideas, all around. We need a sensible economic policy. Ron Paul '08. Just kidding.
April 30, 2008 1:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
That gas tax is also meant to go into a fund to maintain our infrastructure, which last we checked was "crumbling." That is an important campaign issue, no? At least it was last fall. Shouldn't we be increasing our efforts to maintain, repair, and enhance our infrastructure?
April 30, 2008 1:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
Another interesting link from a well-respected economist:
http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/04/30/elections-hot-air-and-gas/
April 30, 2008 3:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
HRC saw how well exploiting the average voter's ignorance of policy details worked for Bush - twice.
Her entire campaign is based on buying brand name politics vs. generic and creating totally pointless (if not destructive) policy to get votes. Pay more - get the same damn product in return.
I for one remember how scared I was that Gay Men & Women might get married and justify Bin Laden's scorn of our Western Culture. So scared in fact - I voted for Bush just to make sure we didn't give Bin Laden any excuse to criticize the Purity of American Culture.
Today I think Hillary should be awarded the nomination, become president and serve unlimited terms until all her solutions have been implemented - really folks, it's the only way we can save ourselves.
Viagra is the opiate of the masses and one can't have a set of steel ones if they don't threaten to destroy Iran.
April 30, 2008 3:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
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