Climate Action? Politically Vulnerable Democrats Demand Lower Gasoline Taxes

h/t Breitbart; It is almost like they think saving their own political hides is more important that the crisis of our times.

Vulnerable Senate Dems try to run as tax-cutters

They’re pitching gas tax holidays and other pocketbook-friendly plans to combat GOP messaging on inflation. But any real proposal has a long way to go.

By BURGESS EVERETT and MARIANNE LEVINE
02/16/2022 03:18 PM EST

Vulnerable Senate Democrats are attempting a bold strategy: Running for reelection as the real tax-cutters in Congress, even if it pits them against some of their caucus colleagues.

A quartet of the chamber’s most endangered Democrats are backing a proposalto suspend the federal gas tax through the end of the year and urging their party to embrace it as a signature economic pitch ahead of the midterms. And more ideas are on the way to ease voters’ pocketbooks.

It’s no coincidence that the Democrats most involved in the new push hail from the toughest battlegrounds: Sens. Mark Kelly of Arizona, Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada and Warnock. But as inflation grips the economy and prices continue rising, those senators say they are merely responding to their constituents’ concerns.

“What you see coming from me is an effort to lower peoples’ costs, whether that’s through the gas tax relief bill or other bills that I’m looking at introducing,” Warnock said in an interview. Republicans “are focused on politics, and I’m focused on the people I’m here to represent … people are struggling and they are focused on how they pay for their groceries.”

Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2022/02/16/vulnerable-senate-dems-tax-cuts-00009497

Its a shame the vulnerable democrats didn’t think about the political problems high gas taxes would cause, back when people liked them.

I find this interesting, because it once again demonstrates how thin political commitment to climate action really is. The moment there is any real blow back, commitment to climate action goes out the window, and politicians scrabble for any solution which might claw back some of their crumbling support.

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Independent
February 20, 2022 2:05 pm

“What you see coming from me is an effort to lower peoples’ costs, whether that’s through the gas tax relief bill or other bills that I’m looking at introducing,” Warnock said in an interview. Republicans “are focused on politics, and I’m focused on the people I’m here to represent … people are struggling and they are focused on how they pay for their groceries.”

What a shame you didn’t think of this before CAUSING THE PROBLEM, you idiot.

Philip
Reply to  Independent
February 20, 2022 4:51 pm

Democrats are now worried about taxes, then why were they supporting all the spending anb taxes in Joe’s Build Back Better???
Time to nail their hides to the barn door.

Last edited 1 year ago by Philip
Bryan A
Reply to  Philip
February 21, 2022 9:10 pm

Hey Dim-O-Crats…How about doing something a government “For The People” would do and find a way to make energy Abundant, Reliable and Affordable. 20¢-30¢ per KWh is bordering of ridiculous and greatly unaffordable, especially if we will be forced into an “All Electric” lifestyle.

H B
Reply to  Independent
February 20, 2022 6:46 pm

An Warnok got elected in very marginal situation the voting stooped for long periods of time plenty of time to inject extra votes just saying

Willem Post
Reply to  Independent
February 21, 2022 7:52 am

After Russia annexes Ukraine (it will be called Novorus), gas and oil will be in VERY SHORT supply everywhere, except in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, because of US/UK/EU sanctions, very-stupidly imposed on Russia, which will be taking on to itself the big financial burden of dealing with a very corrupt, dysfunctional, impoverished Ukraine.

Russia does not care about sanctions, because Russians will pull together and eventually overcome any adverse effects.

Europe’s current exports of about $150 billion to Russia will become next to nothing
All prices will go through the roof.
A major economic shock and recession will follow

Macron is desperate, because he faces a tough election in April.
He wants to be seen as the savior of France and Europe
BOZO Johnson is hanging by a tread

MarkW
Reply to  Willem Post
February 21, 2022 10:01 am

So countries that you consider to be corrupt, should be annexed by countries that are equally corrupt.

niceguy
Reply to  MarkW
February 21, 2022 11:06 am

Countries that do a “revolution” (coup) with the ostensible goal of being a partner and later a member of EU, which protects local languages/dialects (which might be problematic or even incompatible with France’s Constitution), and then have the main goal of suppressing local languages and suppressing the civil lives of the Russian speaking population?

Remember when Western world took the side of Croatians against Serbs? Russia remembers. Where was the “international law” then?

The West made that possible, even encouraged it!

Willem post
Reply to  niceguy
February 21, 2022 12:39 pm

Serbia was bombed by US/UK led NATO with B-52s, because it did not want to give up Kosovo, which had been Serbian lands for over 1000 years.

Kosovo was invaded by Muslim Albanians. They multiplied like flies, and displaced orthodox Christian Serbs who had been living there for over 1000 years (monasteries and churches)
https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/the-plot-is-thickening-with-germany-and-france-no-longer-in

Last edited 1 year ago by wilpost
Matt Kiro
February 20, 2022 2:06 pm

What is always under reported is how much cleaner countries that have ready and available cheap energy are compared to countries that don’t rely on fossil fuels. Especially western democracies. People won’t care about protecting nature or plastic in the ocean if they spend all their time making ends meet.

John the Econ
Reply to  Matt Kiro
February 20, 2022 2:26 pm

Exactly. Western democracies didn’t consider “environmental quality” a thing worth pursuing until a critical mass had climbed far enough up the Maslow Curve. Let enough people slide back down that curve and they will stop caring again. Then we’ll start facing real environmental crisis again.

Tom Halla
February 20, 2022 2:06 pm

If the vulnerable Democrats really wanted to lower gas and energy prices, undoing the Green New Deal lite that Biden’s crew are engaged in would actually be effective. I believe that they are just trying to appear to do something, while still sucking up to the green lobby.

Tom Abbott
Reply to  Tom Halla
February 21, 2022 5:06 am

“I believe that they are just trying to appear to do something, while still sucking up to the green lobby.”

I think that’s what they are doing. If they really wanted to get gasoline prices lower, they would undo all the energy policies Biden has put in place since he took office.

Cutting the federal tax on gasoline won’t amount to much of a savings. Giving the oil and gas industry free rein to drill, drill, drill, will.

The policies of Biden and the Democrats are the cause of the high gasoline prices, and high gasoline prices are one of the primary causes of the increased prices we are paying at the store because everything has to be moved using gasoline or diesel so increased costs are passed on to the consumer.

Everything Biden has done has been the wrong move. And now we are paying for it.

william Johnston
Reply to  Tom Abbott
February 21, 2022 7:51 am

Doesn’t the money collected in gas taxes fund roads and bridges? So less money for R&B now means less maintenance now. Which leads to higher costs later. Yeah, that’s the ticket.

Tom Abbott
Reply to  william Johnston
February 22, 2022 5:14 am

Roads and bridges should be funded out of general tax revenues. That way the poor will not be hurt financially because they don’t pay general taxes. The poor do have to pay extra when gasoline is taxed.

Willem Post
Reply to  Tom Halla
February 21, 2022 7:56 am

If Dem/Progs want to get elected, they HAVE TO IMMEDIATELY CLOSE THE BORDER TIGHTER THAN A DRUM

Willem Post
Reply to  Willem Post
February 21, 2022 7:59 am

The US needs to have a veto-proof landslide for Republicans in 2022, to immediately undo all the Biden crap

MarkW
Reply to  Willem Post
February 21, 2022 10:03 am

I thought you approved of the annexation of corrupt countries?

Willem Post
Reply to  MarkW
February 22, 2022 12:05 pm

I approve of Ukraine, a neo-NAZI-led, dysfunctional, impoverished, puppet “state”, not being used by the US/UK-led NATO as a spearhead to do all sorts of harm to itself, Russia, and Europe.

Remember, Ukraine used to be a major design center of nuclear weapons during USSR times. With some NATO help, and away we go.

Robert Hanson
Reply to  Tom Halla
February 21, 2022 11:35 am

Notice this only goes until the end of the year ie 2 months past the election. Then back to (ab)normal. And right now, I’m paying @$4.50 a gallon. Lowering that cost by less than 19 cents isn’t something I’ll even notice when I fill up. Temporarily lowering my cost from $45 to $43 a tankful is just going to make my day. Not….

Rud Istvan
February 20, 2022 2:13 pm

That doesn’t work. In his first 30 days, Biden cancelled KXL, canceled the ANWAR exploration leases, forbade new O&G leases on Conus Federal lands, revoked already issued GoM leases, and probably a bunch of other energy stuff I am presently too angry to recall. The dim Dems must think we all have a memory like Biden’s.

Rich Davis
Reply to  Rud Istvan
February 20, 2022 2:36 pm

They’re not worried about us, Rud. They know that they can depend on 80% not paying attention and being easily fooled by nonsense propaganda spewed by their allies in the lamestream media.

I see that the Clinton-era cabinet secretary and garden gnome Robert B. Reishhhhhhhhhuh (Reich) is calling for wage and price controls. Because, you know, they worked so well in the 70s. Now how many people do you count on to know that that’s an incandescently stupid idea? And Brandon would never try to implement that through an executive order, right?

Rud Istvan
Reply to  Rich Davis
February 20, 2022 2:57 pm

Maybe I am too optimistic. But MSM CNN has imploded, TMTG’s Truth Social app launches at Apple tomorrow, Biden’s approval rating among independents is at an historic low, Harris and Biden continue to embarrass themselves in public, 30 Dem reps are ‘retiring’, and 5 Dem Senators just panicked over the price of gasoline.
I think many now understand that Trump’s FAKE NEWS is just that.

Tom Abbott
Reply to  Rud Istvan
February 21, 2022 5:13 am

I think a lot of people have had their eyes opened lately on a lot of subjects. This doesn’t bode well for the radical Democrats.

Rich Davis
Reply to  Rud Istvan
February 21, 2022 3:00 pm

I just tried to sign up on Truth Social but I get an error in the app when trying to enter my email account, and on a browser, I am getting a 405 error “Not allowed” (tried a couple of different email domains, all the same).

Anybody have success?

MarkW
Reply to  Rich Davis
February 20, 2022 6:59 pm

In the $6Trillion Build Socialism Better bill there was a $100million dollar grant that cities could (not must, could) use on police departments. The Democrats actually had the gall to claim that by voting against that bill, it was the Republicans who were champions of defunding police.

Tom Abbott
Reply to  MarkW
February 21, 2022 5:14 am

The Democrats are practiced liars.

Tom Abbott
Reply to  Rich Davis
February 21, 2022 5:09 am

“Robert B. Reishhhhhhhhhuh (Reich)”

I miss Rush. 🙂

Tom Abbott
Reply to  Rich Davis
February 21, 2022 5:11 am

“Now how many people do you count on to know that that’s an incandescently stupid idea?”

Price controls are a very stupid idea. I guess you had to be there to really appreciate it.

MarkW
Reply to  Tom Abbott
February 21, 2022 10:05 am

You don’t have to live through the stupidity in order to recognize a really stupid idea. But it helps.

Alan Watt, Climate Denialist Level 7
Reply to  Rud Istvan
February 20, 2022 2:37 pm

And the Lame Stream Media will assure voters their memories are the result of right-wing “misinformation”; that Dems have been for lower taxes, energy independence, ending mask mandates and reopening schools all along. It’s already happening.

Independent
Reply to  Alan Watt, Climate Denialist Level 7
February 20, 2022 3:52 pm

We have always been at war with Eastasia.

Neville
Reply to  Rud Istvan
February 20, 2022 5:13 pm

Rud do you think this is a valid and easier way for the average Joe to understand the energy requirements by 2050 etc.
The TOXIC S & W energy push is unbelievably stupid and this certainly underlines big problems if we waste trillions of $ for a guaranteed ZERO return by 2050.

https://blog.oup.com/2010/09/cubic-mile-of-oil/

George T
February 20, 2022 2:17 pm

Dah! Where was your leadership when Biden proudly cancelled the XL pipeline by fiat among other things? The only time when these buffoons get motivated to act is when the electorate is ready to show them the door. A day late and a dollar short. Meanwhile, the little guy gets the shaft.

Rud Istvan
Reply to  George T
February 20, 2022 2:47 pm

We will be showing a lot of Congress critters the door come November. Between redistricting, Kinsinger gone, Cheney targeted, 30 Dem rep retirements, and now these 5 panicked Dem Senators, Dems KNOW the red tsunami is coming 11/2022.

Biden, Pelosi, Schumer, and the Squad are responsible for inflation, our southern border disaster, emboldened China and Russia, the Afghan withdrawal disaster, loss of energy independence (Biden begging OPEC was absurd), defund the police plus bail leniency leading to sharply rising crime, and lots more.

Meanwhile, the 2020 election steal is slowly being fully irrefutably exposed. For example—Wisconsin: ~250000 indefinitely confined without ID compared to 85k in 2018; Pennsylvania: by law 1.7 million written requests for write ins, yet 2.5 million counted…We now know that stolen elections have serious negative consequences.

Joseph Zorzin
Reply to  Rud Istvan
February 20, 2022 4:36 pm

“…the red tsunami…”
by the way, I never understood how GOP states are red and Dem states are blue- who made this decision? Makes no sense.

Editor
Reply to  Joseph Zorzin
February 20, 2022 6:48 pm

The Republican symbol is a red white and blue elephant, and the Democrat symbol is an identically coloured (colored) red white and blue donkey. But all that is irrelevant because a symbol’s colour (color) isn’t what it is, it’s what they say it is. So if Democrats say donkeys are blue, then donkeys are blue. Etc. It’s really simple, and I’m surprised you can’t make sense of it – unless of course you have no idea how the world works now. Thinking is an antiquated concept with no place in today’s society.

John Hultquist
Reply to  Joseph Zorzin
February 20, 2022 7:39 pm

 The traditions of symbols go back a long way.
Thomas Nest is credited with popularizing the symbol. He first published it in Harper’s Weekly in 1874. Colors red/blue were not standard until the 2000 election.
Why is the Elephant a Symbol of the Republican Party? – WorldAtlas

J.R.
Reply to  Joseph Zorzin
February 21, 2022 11:46 am

As I recall watching news coverage in the 80s, Republican candidates were shown with blue markers and Democrats with red. I believe it was during Clinton’s run that the colors were switched, because the Democrats didn’t like the fact that red was the color of both communists and Democrats. It hit too close to home and gave Republicans some political firepower. I specifically noticed the switch during coverage of the presidential campaigns, though my memory of the timing may be a bit off. A few years ago I saw an article about the switch in colors, I’m sure there’s information about it somewhere.

Drake
Reply to  J.R.
February 21, 2022 3:05 pm

It WAS the other way originally, and was switched by the MSM.

Republican true BLUE Americans.

Democrat commie RED anti-Americans.

Fox and OANN and Newsmax should return to that color scheme, and give the reason.

TonyG
Reply to  Drake
February 22, 2022 7:17 am

Fox and OANN and Newsmax should return to that color scheme

Post-Matrix I’m not so sure (Red pill = reality). And it’s pretty engrained at this point. Probably would be difficult to get people to change their thinking on it, unless they went with completely different colors.
(Orange and green come to mind)

Neil Jordan
Reply to  Joseph Zorzin
February 21, 2022 1:54 pm

Regardless of how the colors started, or machinations for the color changes, the present colors nicely represent the chosen medications – red pills and blue pills. Technical reference is The Matrix.

AndyHce
Reply to  Rud Istvan
February 20, 2022 7:02 pm

It seems that few people either know what has been discovered, or they don’t believe it. I don’t get the impression that it is changing anyone’s position on anything. And then there are those not too few who say Trump is so terrible, that anything that works against him is just fine.

Tom Abbott
Reply to  AndyHce
February 21, 2022 5:33 am

Trump is the most innocent guy around but leftwing propaganda has turned him into a demon in many people’s minds.

Some people are easily influenced into believing things that are not true, unfortunately.

I’ll vote for Trump if I ever get another chance.

TonyG
Reply to  Tom Abbott
February 21, 2022 12:24 pm

“Trump is the most innocent guy around”

Given how much he’s been investigated, he must be especially pure if they haven’t been able to find anything…

Tom Abbott
Reply to  TonyG
February 22, 2022 5:25 am

Yes, the radical Democrats have thrown everything they can at Trump and he still comes out innocent.

Trump is the most vetted human being on the planet, and the vetting says he is an honest man.

On top of being an innocent man, he is a highly competent man, who appears to be extremely good at governing.

Just think what Trump could have accomplished with just a little cooperation from the Democrats and the RINO’s. Instead, it was a constant fight, and yet Trump still had multiple successes.

Unfortunately, Biden is undoing Trump’s successes just as fast as he can.

Biden is a total disaster. He needs to be impeached and removed from office as soon as possible.

J.R.
Reply to  AndyHce
February 21, 2022 12:03 pm

And then there are those not too few who say Trump is so terrible, that anything that works against him is just fine.”

This has been the operating procedure of the Biden administration since day 1: cancel and reverse absolutely everything Trump did no matter what the consequence. Under Trump the country was prosperous, secure, energy independent, and respected, the exact opposite of how it’s been since Biden got in.

Alan Watt, Climate Denialist Level 7
February 20, 2022 2:40 pm

No doubt the Biden administration will claim the Ukraine crisis as the reason for the surge in fuel prices

Thomas Gasloli
Reply to  Alan Watt, Climate Denialist Level 7
February 20, 2022 3:00 pm

And mandatory mail in ballots and ballot harvesting ‘cause it will cost too much to drive to polls.😁

Rud Istvan
Reply to  Alan Watt, Climate Denialist Level 7
February 20, 2022 3:01 pm

Biden’s CoS Ron Klain did exactly that this morning on ABC. Good intuition.

MarkW
Reply to  Rud Istvan
February 20, 2022 7:09 pm

I’m waiting for them to explain how the problems in the Ukraine started in January of 2021.

Doonman
Reply to  Alan Watt, Climate Denialist Level 7
February 20, 2022 3:11 pm

All that Ukrainian export oil, stranded in the Black Sea.

Derg
Reply to  Alan Watt, Climate Denialist Level 7
February 21, 2022 3:19 am

What if this whole set of Russia Ukraine stupid is nothing more than an exercise to elevate Harris as a world leader?

Tom Abbott
Reply to  Derg
February 21, 2022 5:38 am

If that’s the case, then they have failed. Kamala did nothing to help the American or Ukranian cause. All she did was spout gobbledygook. She is a laughing stock. Putin is not impressed, nor are the other European leaders. It’s pathetic. This is our “leadership”. They don’t have a clue. They are just stumbling along reacting to events. And not reacting very well at all.

Robert Hanson
Reply to  Tom Abbott
February 21, 2022 11:48 am

Kamala was sent there to be the ‘fall girl’ for an impossible task. No one with any hope for their future reputation would have agreed to go on that fool’s errand. She can talk for 15 minutes without actually saying anything coherent. So Camala was the perfect person to send.

Tom Abbott
Reply to  Robert Hanson
February 22, 2022 5:30 am

“She can talk for 15 minutes without actually saying anything coherent.”

Exactly.

Kamala is just like AOC. Neither one of them make any sense when they talk. They are deep in the Delusion.

David Dibbell
February 20, 2022 3:05 pm

I find this interesting, because it once again demonstrates how thin political commitment to climate action really is.” Let’s hope so. Folks figure things out, like how unworkable EV’s will be for many of us, and how an aggressive push for more wind and solar will degrade reliability and boost the price for electricity.

Joseph Zorzin
Reply to  David Dibbell
February 20, 2022 4:38 pm

“unworkable EV’s will be for many of us”
That burning ship with many EVs still isn’t making the MSM. Not that I’ve seen so far.

J.R.
Reply to  Joseph Zorzin
February 21, 2022 12:10 pm

I don’t know about the national news, but I saw it on my local news broadcast at noon today.

TonyL
February 20, 2022 3:22 pm

it once again demonstrates how thin political commitment to climate action really is.

Just not up to speed on American politics. The democratic party could give a damn about “climate change”. They are, however, totally committed to a tax, tax, and tax and spend, spend agenda.
Let’s see how it works in practice.
They institute a gas tax. They increase the tax, then they increase it again, and again.
The situation changes and the sky-high taxes are inconvenient.
Put on your tax-cutter hat and give the people (voters) a temporary short term reprieve. Have the media portray you as the Giant Tax Slayer who Rode to the Rescue of the middle class.
This is done understanding that if successful, you get reelected, keep your job and can raise the taxes back up anytime now that the election (crisis) is over. By the same token, if you lose the election, it is game over. Unthinkable.

Unfortunately, there are ample enough low-information voters who fall for this. Every single time.

Is this voter behavior willfully stupid, deliberately stupid or determinately stupid?
We report, you decide.

MarkW
Reply to  TonyL
February 20, 2022 7:11 pm

The basic socialist philosophy is that government should take stuff from people who consume too much, and use it to buy the loyalty of those who think others have too much.

One thing I’ve never been able to figure out though, is how buying a few dozen dresses, and going to lots of parties is proof of excessive consumption. While buying a half dozen mansions, or spending $100 million on a yacht, is not.

Last edited 1 year ago by MarkW
Pflashgordon
Reply to  TonyL
February 21, 2022 6:34 am

Aside from the dead who vote, those whose votes are harvested, illegals who vote or those who vote multiple times, there remains a large swath of American voters who vote straight-ticket Democrat because that is expected of them (e.g., urban blacks, Latinos, liberated women, the queer, metrosexual males, etc.). They have been grooming children in public education for years to keep their numbers strong.

The mainstream media and Ivy League universities maintain a patina of legitimacy to cover their rotten core. Now most of ”higher education” has drunk the Kool Aid, even down to traditional science and engineering schools and Land Grant universities.

Drake
Reply to  Pflashgordon
February 21, 2022 3:17 pm

All the “liberal arts” degree holders, knowing their degrees are not worth the paper they are printed on, need the Dems to create jobs for them

What are the Dems trying to do as they defund the police? Take the money to employ “liberal arts” majors for make work jobs that will have no measurable results.

And Brandon and his minions were willing for give 100 million to possible employ more police, but giving that money to cities who diverted THEIR OWN tax income FROM THE POLICE to the liberal arts majors.

Robert Hanson
Reply to  TonyL
February 21, 2022 11:55 am

Yeah, they shut down pipelines, prohibit leases to drill, close down working power plants, and all they have to offer is dropping an 18 cent a gallon tax for 10 months. Sadly, some sheeple will fall for that.

Slowroll
Reply to  TonyL
February 21, 2022 3:53 pm

They are actually guilty of premeditated stupidity, so all of the above.

Albert H Brand
February 20, 2022 3:22 pm

It’s time for a new governor in Albany. Electrical delivery rates went up about 3x with the closure of Indian Point. Go Rob Astrino.

Andy Pattullo
February 20, 2022 4:16 pm

The instinct for survival (existential or political) is probably what will save us from the worst outcomes of the climate change religion… maybe. I am hopeful but uncertain how much misery will precede a real correction.

AndyHce
Reply to  Andy Pattullo
February 20, 2022 7:06 pm

Crazy religions have crashed more than one culture.

Frank from NoVA
February 20, 2022 4:39 pm

The current Federal gas tax actually serves a purpose, which is to fund the Federal Highway Trust Fund in order to build and maintain highway infrastructure. Like most trust funds, this one is too often raided to fund bike paths, mass transit boondoggles and such. Better to leave it in place and stop wasting the funds.

TonyL
Reply to  Frank from NoVA
February 20, 2022 5:01 pm

The current Federal gas tax actually serves a purpose
Actually, the federal gas tax serves no purpose. Year after year, the trust fund get raided by congress and the money turned over to the general revenue fund. At this point, congress can spend the money on anything they want, as it is no longer earmarked for any specific purpose. Practically, the money just turns into a slush fund.
Congress has been doing this year after year since the early 1970s, at least. Curious, congress can not always pass a budget for a year, but they never forget to raid the highway trust fund.
Indeed, if you really want to do some needed interstate highway work, a supplementary spending package needs to be passed (more debt), because the money is just not there.
So much for the federal gas tax, it is just more tax and spend.
And to the Devil with the taxpayers.

Last edited 1 year ago by TonyL
hiskorr
Reply to  TonyL
February 20, 2022 6:54 pm

Highway trust fund, SoSec trust funds, employee retirement trust funds– all “slush funds”. If its money, then the government will spend it, and then borrow and spend more.

AndyHce
Reply to  TonyL
February 20, 2022 7:07 pm

Same as Social Security, since day 1.

TonyG
Reply to  TonyL
February 21, 2022 12:45 pm

“Practically, the money just turns into a slush fund.”

Is there any government tax (or other “targeted” revenue source) where that didn’t happen?

Tim Gorman
Reply to  Frank from NoVA
February 20, 2022 5:03 pm

Yep. Cut the gas tax and highways get worse! And the Dems think this is going to help them?

MarkW
Reply to  Tim Gorman
February 20, 2022 7:16 pm

Cutting the tax occurs prior to the election, the degradation of the highways doesn’t happen till after the election, and will be blamed on Republicans not being willing to spend enough.

Yes, it will help the Democrats.

Tom Abbott
Reply to  Frank from NoVA
February 21, 2022 5:50 am

It would be better to eliminate fuel taxes altogether and pay for the Highway Fund with general revenue taxes.

Fuel taxes hurt the economy because the cost of fuel is passed on to the consumer and this cost decreases the GDP of the nation, and hurts the poorest people the most.

So the object should be to reduce fuel prices as much as possible and this will help the economy the most. Increasing the costs of transportation through the taxing of fuel is counterproductive.

Fund road and bridge building out of general tax funds instead of fuel taxes. Using fuel taxes takes money out of the poorest people’s pockets because everybody has to pay these taxes. Using general tax funds for roads and bridges does not take money out of poor people’s pockets because the poorest of the poor don’t pay any general taxes.

MarkW
Reply to  Tom Abbott
February 21, 2022 10:12 am

All taxes are passed on to the consumer. So replacing the gas tax with another tax doesn’t help the consumer at all.

Tom Abbott
Reply to  MarkW
February 22, 2022 5:33 am

It does help the poor directly.

observa
February 20, 2022 4:39 pm

Well it’s like this Dems. You print a lot of helicopter money claims on production it either has to be paid back via taxes or inflated away. Choose one stoopids and no Covid helicopter money doesn’t get you a free pass. Quite the contrary with the lost production of lockdowns.

markl
February 20, 2022 5:08 pm

Desperation is showing and the closer to November the worse it will get. The response to the Green New Deal was their notice of rejection. They may have the MSM backing their AGW platform but the press doesn’t vote and with the way things are going the press may turn into a deficit.

Editor
Reply to  markl
February 20, 2022 6:54 pm

“Vote early, vote often” (attributed to Al Capone). The Polls in the USA are now determined by how often people (dead or alive) vote.

Thorsthimble
February 20, 2022 5:25 pm

“We must lower the gas prices our policies more than doubled in the last year!”

Tell me your internal polling is showing a complete wipeout without actually telling me its showing a complete wipeout. Not as if we couldn’t already tell from the wave of voluntary retirements that it must be absolutely God awful. Oh, and please, go do unmentionable things to yourselves post-election. You’ve earned it.

Herbert
February 20, 2022 5:46 pm

Here are the gas prices today in California, the most expensive in the Nation-
Regular: $4.736 a gallon.
Mid-Range: $4-928 a gallon.
Premium: $5-058 a gallon.
(Source:gasprices.aaa.com).
The lowest prices are in Kansas (Premium: $3-719 a gallon) and Oklahoma(Premium: $3-692 a gallon) and more generally in the South.
Of the gas prices shown, some $1-18 is made up of Taxes and Fees in California as follows-
.Taxes :
Federal Excise Tax: 18 cents a gallon.
State Excise Tax: 51 cents a gallon.
Sales Tax (estimated) 10 cents a gallon.
.Fees:
Low carbon Gas Programs: 22 cents per gallon.
Greenhouse Gas Programs: 15 cents per gallon.
Underground Tank Storage: 2 cents per gallon.
(Source: KTLA LA, 15 November,2021).
It is clear that the removal of the Federal Excise Tax is minor in the problem for Californians, although helpful.
Most of the other States do not carry the Green Fees shown.
It is very expensive to save the planet.

Doonman
Reply to  Herbert
February 20, 2022 7:28 pm

Not only that, but people refuse to use alternate transit solutions causing billions in tax expenditures to go to waste.

Robert Hanson
Reply to  Doonman
February 21, 2022 12:09 pm

Can’t imagine why. Last weekend 5 people were stabbed on the NYC subway. And that figure was just by late afternoon; maybe more later. Mayor says he’s going to stop the homeless from living on the trains. Good Luck with that. Meanwhile large corporations that can afford it are providing private taxi service for their top employees so they can avoid being thrown onto the tracks by some demented criminal. And the Calif high speed train to nowhere is something like 10 years, and $10 Billion dollars behind schedule.

Dave Fair
Reply to  Robert Hanson
February 21, 2022 2:06 pm

Hey, man! Its a small price to pay for high-speed (not) rail between the economically important metropolises of Modesto and Bakersfield.

Pat from kerbob
February 20, 2022 6:09 pm

The Dems will push the message that evil oil companies are behind the price hikes and as protectors of the people they are going to borrow a trillion to subsidize their fuel cost.

And there is a subset of people dumb enough to believe it.

Guaranteed

Hans Erren
February 20, 2022 10:05 pm

You are very lucky in the US with your low fuel taxes. Currenrlyin the Netherlands we are paying two euros per litre for gasoline.

Hans Erren
Reply to  Hans Erren
February 20, 2022 10:13 pm

That is $8.60 per gallon

Tom Abbott
Reply to  Hans Erren
February 21, 2022 5:55 am

Ooch!

DonM
Reply to  Hans Erren
February 21, 2022 11:16 am

How much of that is tax ?

Hans Erren
Reply to  DonM
February 21, 2022 11:51 am

Price at pump is 2 euros

VAT is 21%

Fixed excise duty (ex VAT!) is 83.2 ct/l

So duty free price is 82ct

So 118 cents total tax

Joel O'Bryan
February 20, 2022 11:02 pm

Arizona Senator Mark Kelly is one disgusting human being. He Sells his honor to Mike Bloomberg for a title. Sad for former Navy Captain to sell his self like some whore to a billionaire.
Now He sponsors a bill in the US Senate to eliminate the 19cent/gallon federal excise tax to lower gas prices, just i hopes to get him him re-elected.
Yet he also supports the Biden Admin’s Build Back Better bill which has has many times more gas and oil taxes, including things that will drive gas prices much higher.

Mark Kelly must think Arizona voters are stupid. He has no honor.

Tom Abbott
Reply to  Joel O'Bryan
February 21, 2022 5:58 am

Mark Kelly must be in favor of illegal aliens, criminals, and drugs pouring across the Arizona/Mexico border. I haven’t heard him complaining about it.

Pflashgordon
February 21, 2022 5:23 am

The  federal on excise tax on gasoline 18.4 cents per gallon and 24.4 cents per gallon for diesel fuel, last raised in 1993 and not indexed to inflation. Federal taxes have nothing to do with the rapidly rising prices. These Democrat senators and their party’s policies are partially directly responsible for inflation and increasing motor fuel costs, and their own war on fossil fuels seeks to purposely raise fuel prices through the roof. Yet they want to look the heroes by eliminating the excise tax, all the while demonstrating their own hatred for fossil fuels. If these senators want to be re-elected, maybe they should repudiate the president’s administration and the extremists in Congress by voting in lockstep with the Republicans or even by changing party affiliations.

Bruce Cobb
February 21, 2022 6:13 am

Dems suffer mightily from cognitive dissonance. I doubt they can even see how the ideas about “climate change” so completely oppose any thoughts they might have about helping people, especially the poor and middle class. All climate ideation opposes people’s financial well-being. They either just don’t get it, or are willfully blind to it.

Robert Hanson
Reply to  Bruce Cobb
February 21, 2022 12:13 pm

They rely on the principle ‘you can fool some of the people all of the time’. Especially when you have the lamestreme media cheerleading for you.

Gerry, England
February 21, 2022 6:33 am

The Democrats obviously have no faith in being able to repeat their election stealing next time around.

MarkW
Reply to  Gerry, England
February 21, 2022 10:16 am

A smart operator pursues his goals using multiple strategies.

Jeff Reppun
February 21, 2022 7:12 am

This has a double benefit for Democrats. Since gasoline pricing is an almost perfect supply/demand mechanism that works at a very low local level, the removal of the federal tax will increase demand and the local pricing systems will require an increase in price to ensure balance with supply. Refineries have limited flexibility to adjust output, especially in the short term.

So, when the federal tax dollars end up as added revenue to the gasoline supply chain, they can blame “Big Oil Bosses” for abusing consumers.

Cute, but I doubt they have the intelligence to understand how the industry works, even after endless investigations of “price gouging” that never go anywhere

ResourceGuy
February 21, 2022 8:31 am

Too late, the jig is up along with inflation.

TonyG
February 21, 2022 9:36 am

Gas tax holiday through the end of the year.
At least give them credit for “transparency” – the motive is ludicrously clear.

niceguy
February 21, 2022 11:01 am

It’s as if “pastor Warnock” core proposals and ideas are not really popular. Wonder how he got elected in the 1st place?

DonM
Reply to  niceguy
February 21, 2022 11:44 am

It’s as if Pastor Warnock (senior pastor of Ebenezer Baptist church) core ideals are variable, based on political needs.

They say not to judge the hypocrites in the congregation … they are there to better themselves.

We should be able to judge the hypocrite Pastor. Especially when it becomes clear that what he does there is intended to primarily better his situation.

DonM
February 21, 2022 11:34 am

“I find this interesting, because it once again demonstrates how thin political commitment to climate action really is. The moment there is any real blow back, commitment to climate action goes out the window, and politicians scrabble for any solution which might claw back some of their crumbling support.”

You might find it interesting because you have a moral (& common sense) base. They don’t.

They (the majority of they) are only committed to getting elected again; their cost/benefit analysis is tied to money, power, & elections (present & future worth considerations for all).

It’s not a lie, if they don’t get exposed; It’s not stealing, if they don’t get caught; If they can buy off those that they hurt, then they didn’t hurt anybody; They didn’t break your promises, if others have reason to forget about Their promises.

The above is part of their (the majority of they) innate persona. Once you accept this, what they do will be expected. Then it will be a little less interesting.

philo
February 21, 2022 1:58 pm

I really kind of neat to laugh at various dems making bad policy, instead of asking what their clients want. I am sure most would say something like: “Do you want restrictions on well-filtered coal powered electricity that has low amounts of dust and pollution?”

Unfortunately they almost all think it is their job to build their careers, give and get favors from big clients, and take clients, not their constituents, out for fancy meals.

Kirschberg
February 24, 2022 4:19 am

The European Union is missing a lot of tax income. I will write to Ursula von der Leyen to get this corrected.

The average human exhales about 2.3 pounds of carbon dioxide on an average day (depending on activity). That is 839.5 pounds of CO2 annually (365 days).

The EU carbon tax is currently €75 per metric ton of CO2 emission.

1 metric ton is 2204.62262 pounds.

Therefore, all EU citizens should be taxed for their CO2 emissions at €28.56 annually (€75 * (839.5 / 2204.62262))

The EU population is 447.7 million.

The total EU annual personal carbon tax income would be €12,786,312,000.- (447.7 million * €28.56).

A 2 MW wind turbine costs roughly €2.7 to €3.6 million. Take an average of €3 million and then the EU personal CO2 tax will pay for 4,262 wind turbines.
 
If you drive a car, I’ll tax the street
If you try to sit, I’ll tax your seat
If you get too cold I’ll tax the heat
If you take a walk, I’ll tax your feet
You cannot hide
I’ll tax your dioxide

Taxman!
Cos I’m the taxman, yeah I’m the taxman
(Beatles)

Enginer01
February 25, 2022 2:55 pm

This like the Railroad Magnates when they were given rights and free land to extend the Railtodes Westward,

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