bucko doesn't get by word speller, bucko !

geez....who can spell these days?

i just type till the red goes away..

Compared to the increase in gasoline prices in the United States, the price of gasoline has not been going up at the same rate in several other places in the world. Why? Because the value of the U.S. dollar has been dropping like a rock. In Europe, with the value of the euro rising rapidly against the dollar, gasoline prices at the pump have not increased at the sort of dramatic rate seen in the U.S. And in Brazil, to cite another example, where the value of the dollar has dropped to just over 40% of its value 5 or 5 years ago, the price of gasoline has increased only at the rate of ordinary inflation. A three month hiatus on the 18 cents a gallon tax will make no dent in the effects of these facts. When the dollar is in the tank, the price of oil at the pump jumps way way way up. Why aren't the candidates suggesting something to do about this?

This will lower gas taxes - it will lower gas taxes by .184 cents per gallon.

Actually, Brand. It did not turn out so well. The oil companies just raised their prices. Obama spoke on the matter on Meet The Press and called it a mistake.

Interesting point about stimulus, but it's worth pointing out that stimulus is not how Clinton's selling the gas tax. She's proposing it as a short-term relief measure for individual families. So the challenge is to find an economist who thinks a given family is going to be better off spending five bucks or saving a few hundred. Possibly a taller order.

To put $10 "back in someone's pocket" when they buy gas, at a tax savings of 18 cents per gallon, they'd have to buy 55 gallons at a time. About $200 dollars per fill-up.

Most people can fill their tanks with 10 or 15 gallons. So maybe they'd save $2 when they fill up. Big whoop.

And then oil companies jack the price to match. Bigger whoop.

And then the tax is reinstated in three months. Biggest whoop.

One way to save americans money at the pump would be to pressure George Bush to open up the strategic reserve, increasing supply. The tax will not decrease demand. If anything, incentives to use less gas are what we need. I have a disgusting commute and the price at the pump is killing me, but I also know that I shouldn't be driving this much period. It's against my economic interests, but it's also bad for the environment which goes against many other interests but also economic.

First of all, the oil companies do not own most of the gas stations, 95% of gas stations in this country are independently owned and operated. Secondly, the .184 cents is a consumer tax, YOU pay the tax, not the gasoline station, not the oil companies and not the distributors. Gas station owners cannot "just pocket the 18 cents" because it is a tax on the gallon of gasoline. The price of that gallon of gas will still be market driven. The .184 cents per gallon relief is just that - relief for the consumer of one tax burden. The consumer is being relieved of the .184 cents, not the oil companies. The .184 cents is separate from the price per gallon. The oil companies are not getting 3.75 per gallon of gas and the retailer is not getting 3.75 per gallon of gas. If in the state of Ohio the retailer is selling the gas at 3.75 per gallon the taxes both federal and state are .40.8 cents per gallon, that makes a gallon of gas in Ohio 334.60, not 3.75. If the profit margin is around .6 cents for the retailer which is what they claim, he's probably paying around 3.00 to 3.25 (and the 3.25 is for a low end retailer with low volume sales) for that gallon of gas to the distributor or perhaps less depending on his volume/contract sale price from the distributor.

Will the price of gas per gallon go up? Yes, probably, although in my area the price went from 3.54 per gallon to 3.48 in a week, but the .184 cents sales tax will remain the same because it is a fixed tax collected by the retailer. If congress relieves the consumer of that particular tax burden, the retailer canno continue to collect .184 cents per gallon, the tax per gallon must be reduced by the .184 cents no matter how high or low the price per gallon is.