Instead of concentrating on the cause of the oil spill, lawmakers on Capitol Hill appear to be focused on liability limits and oil tax increases. The White House and some Members of Congress are pushing for a one-cent increase per-barrel of oil produced – from eight cents to nine. In reality, this is an indirect gas tax that will be passed onto the consumer. Currently the direct federal gas tax is 18.4 cents per gallon with the mean state tax being 27.2 cents per gallon. The purpose of the newly …
Earlier this year, after Congress passed an increase in the debt ceiling, was deliberating over a trillion plus health care package, and the President’s Budget promised new record deficits, the American people started to see a worrisome trend that pushed fiscal responsibility to the forefront of the public’s priorities. President Obama responded by creating the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, a bipartisan commission tasked with submitting a solution to the nation’s fiscal woes by the end of the year. Problem solved, right?
Here in Washington, people are discussing two things: Jim Zorn’s job security as the Washington Redskins’ head coach and health care, in that order. But there’s a $3.6 trillion gas tax on the table that already passed the House and is making its way through the Senate, and cap and trade has Americans all over the country concerned. The $3.6 trillion gas tax figure, which includes gasoline and diesel gas, comes from a new report from Senators Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) and Kit Bond (R-MO) on the effects of climate …
Rep. James Oberstar (D-MN) came out strongly in favor of a vehicle mileage tax (VMT) yesterday. Just two months ago Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood floated a similar idea, but was quickly shot down by the Obama Administration. The VMT was a bad idea in February and it’s a bad idea now. Below is what we wrote when the idea was initially suggested. The analysis is as applicable today as it was then: The VMT would fund transportation projects and increase conservation by increasing the cost of driving. It is unnecessary, …
Americans often tell pollsters they want to see the government “do something” about global warming and then Congress draws up costly new proposals that would seriously impede economic growth in the US. When Americans are asked what costs they are willing to bear, and for what actual benefit for the environment, support “to do something” on global warming evaporates. A new poll by the National Center for Public Policy Research asked Americans how much they would be willing to pay for a gallon of gasoline in order to reduce carbon …
