Democrat House Speaker Nancy Pelosi shot down the potential of a gas tax holiday to help consumers hit hard by skyrocketing prices at the pump.
As The Daily Wire reports:
During her weekly press briefing, Pelosi was asked by a reporter whether she supported giving gas rebates to consumers. Pelosi explained that the concept had been floated only after the idea of a gas tax holiday had been proposed and rejected.
…
“First of all, the main question had been, ‘Do you support a gas tax holiday?’ And that is immediate, and it has appeal,” Pelosi said. “People understand it. ‘There’s going to be a reduction in the gas tax.’ That’s the pro. The con is that the oil companies do not necessarily pass that on to the consumer. They haven’t in the past. And so we’re losing the money in the Highway Trust Fund, because we’ve just taken that out, it goes to the oil companies, you cannot write a law that requires them to pass it on. That’s just the way it is, I — we’ve tried every which way. You could have moral [persuasion], you could encourage, you could incentivize, you cannot require it. So we have a situation where there’s money coming out of the Highway Trust Fund, it’s going to the oil companies, they may not give it to the consumer, and it has to be paid for. So we’re paying for something to give a break to the oil companies, that isn’t even going to the consumer. So that’s the con.”
“The pro is very showbiz,” Pelosi continued. “‘Okay, let’s just do something, there it is.’ But it is not necessarily landing in the pocket of the consumer, it’s taken out of the Highway Trust Fund, we have to pay for that to return it. So that takes us to something else: how do you do that? Do you do it with a tax on production? Do you have the consumer pay for that?… So you took it to the right place. How do we help people directly? If you’re going to have to pay for it and you don’t want it to come out of the Trust Fund, something could be a rebate card or a direct payment. And those are the things that are being considered. But some of the things that looked appealing in the beginning to some, if this were my caucus, one half of the room would say ‘let’s go with that,’ and the other half would say ‘wait a minute — it’s not going to the consumer.’ So there are a number of approaches that are on the table.” Pelosi then suggested that reporters should wait for President Joe Biden to make his announcement on releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve before commenting further.
Democrats in Congress originally proposed a suspension of the gas tax in February when Senators Mark Kelly (D-AZ) and Maggie Hassan (D-NH) introduced a bill to do so. Calls grew in both chambers to suspend the tax, and the governors of Georgia and Maryland actually signed laws temporarily suspending their state-level taxes, but a federal tax holiday has not gained traction. The White House had also proposed the idea of gas cards earlier this month, but the idea drew criticism from policymakers and mockery from conservatives on social media.
Democrats have long viewed federal gas taxes as a way of encouraging consumers to switch to ‘greener’ alternatives, such as electric vehicles.
Democrats never met a tax reduction that they liked.
They’d rather deplete our strategic reserves just as they depleted and didn’t replenish the strategic health reserve supplies after thsoe stores were used up during the H1N1 flu outbreak in 2015. If anyone believes that this government cares one whit about Americans, you’re dreaming.
Repealing the gas tax is as useless as Biden’s releasing one million barrels of oil per day.
The tax amounts to about 11 Cents per gallon of the price of gas.
America consumes more than 20 million barrels of oil each day. What’s hurting America’s gas pricing is the cost of IMPORTING foreign oil to make up for what the Biden administration cut from American oil production. No, it’s not Russia, Russia, Russia, it’s Washington, Washington, Washington and the green new “weenie” deal*.
Pulling oil from our Strategic Reserves is robbing oil set aside in storage specifically for instant NATIONAL DEFENSE in the event of war, not for political deception or intentional weakening of our military supply and it’s ability to respond in defense of the nation.
Army vets will recall the “green weenie” terminology. I just borrowed it to apply to the Green New Deal screwing we are being subjected to.
Biden’s Oil reserve release is far more damaging to the general populace than the idea of a gas tax holiday.
Yes it’s nothing to people with butt loads of income, they could care less.
The politicans make alot more money than their constituents and they just gave their self a large raise while social security only got 5.8 cola raise and they gave themselves percent raise does tell you that they are not for the American people at all they don’t have to worry about paying bills or gas they have separate money to pay for for what they need and I wonder how much they have to pay in taxes, but not alot
Pelosi, the rest of the DemocRats and many Republicans, thirst for power and money (yours) will never be quenched! Total government control over every aspect of every American’s lives is the goal! A few more compromised elections, unconstitutional mandates and executive orders will complete the job! Hopefully Americans will fight back before it’s too late.
Don’t you just this fantastic example of Democrat leadership – let’s blame the nasty oil companies so we can’t temporarily eliminate gas taxes. Funny how none of the actions taken by Biden’s incompetent administration are the cause of inflation, Afghanistan cowardly withdrawal, product shortages, Ukraine, etc., etc., etc.
Let’s Go Brandon
bunch of imbeciles!!
What a bunch of creations..
PIG AND INSIDER TRAITOR PELOSI IS FINISHED IN NOVEMBER AND SO IS HER PARTY….BYE BYE COMMUNISTS
Look at what Dan Fran nan did to the city by the bay. Same thing has happened to Seattle and Portland with the liberal agenda communists. IMPEACH BIDEN NOW. Let’s get this show on the road.
Offset reduction in gas tax by taxing Pelosis’ ice cream!
Pelosi is jut one more C**** failure…. Bomma said so well ‘If you want something f***ed up, give it to Joe’. Vote for ANY CA*** and you vote for perpetual failure.