What the Democrats Give, the Democrats Take Away - and Then Some
Senate democrats are set to introduce an amendment proposed by Senator Bob Menendez, D-NJ, which would eliminate the federal tax on gasoline and diesel for sixty days, cutting the cost of gasoline by 18 cents and of diesel by 24 cents per gallon. The measure would provide 100 million dollars of tax relief per day.
Great idea, isn't it? It would be if stopped there. But it doesn't.
The $100 million per day that the federal government would lose by providing this "federal gas tax holiday" will be passed on to the oil companies by cutting six billion dollars in tax breaks to the companies.
Ok, I know, there's no one shedding a tear for the oil companies, but does anyone honestly believe the oil companies are going to absorb that loss? Don't count on it. They're going to pass their loss on to - you guessed it - the consumer, and we'll be right back where we started, at least until the sixty day "federal gas tax holiday" is over.
After sixty days the federal gas tax will be reinstated, but the tax breaks to the oil companies will not. The federal government will continue to receive the increased revenue from the oil companies and will begin to once again receive from consumers the extra 100 million dollars per day in gas taxes. The oil companies, who will continue to pay the extra taxes, will continue to pass that additional tax burden on to the consumer, who will now also once again be paying the federal gas tax.
The price of a gallon of gasoline will be higher than ever, but democrats will claim that they stood up for the workingman by temporarily reducing the consumer tax burden and passing that burden on to the big oil companies. Mr. and Mrs. Workingman will buy the lie and will blame the higher than ever gasoline prices on the oil companies because they increased their prices, and on Republicans because, as we all know, Republicans are in bed with "big oil."
Great idea, isn't it? It would be if stopped there. But it doesn't.
The $100 million per day that the federal government would lose by providing this "federal gas tax holiday" will be passed on to the oil companies by cutting six billion dollars in tax breaks to the companies.
Ok, I know, there's no one shedding a tear for the oil companies, but does anyone honestly believe the oil companies are going to absorb that loss? Don't count on it. They're going to pass their loss on to - you guessed it - the consumer, and we'll be right back where we started, at least until the sixty day "federal gas tax holiday" is over.
After sixty days the federal gas tax will be reinstated, but the tax breaks to the oil companies will not. The federal government will continue to receive the increased revenue from the oil companies and will begin to once again receive from consumers the extra 100 million dollars per day in gas taxes. The oil companies, who will continue to pay the extra taxes, will continue to pass that additional tax burden on to the consumer, who will now also once again be paying the federal gas tax.
The price of a gallon of gasoline will be higher than ever, but democrats will claim that they stood up for the workingman by temporarily reducing the consumer tax burden and passing that burden on to the big oil companies. Mr. and Mrs. Workingman will buy the lie and will blame the higher than ever gasoline prices on the oil companies because they increased their prices, and on Republicans because, as we all know, Republicans are in bed with "big oil."
posted by Bryan Alexander | 9:35 PM
2 Comments:
This is an excellent post, Bryan, which is a habit with you.
I wish the American public would take the time to educate themselves and think these things through. The Democratic proposal isn't even logical, if you follow it to it's ultimate conclusion, yet the masses will cheer that the Democrats are actually "doing something" to help.
Good post!
Let's just hope the Republicans in Congress aren't stupid enough to go along with this.
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