Six Liberal governors call on lawmakers to suspend federal gas tax – Indy News

Six left-leaning governors, five of whom are due to run for re-election in November, have called on the Biden administration to temporarily suspend the federal gas tax as pump prices reach their highest level in years.

They are: Jared Polis of Colorado, Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, Michelle Luzan Grisham of New Mexico, Tim Waltz of Minnesota, Tom Wolf of Pennsylvania and Tony Evers of Wisconsin, all Democrats.

“At a time when people are being directly affected by rising commodity prices, a federal gas tax holiday is a tool in the toolbox for Americans to reduce costs, and we urge you to consider each of these proposed legislation,” the governor wrote to the House and Senate leadership last week. In a letter, the Daily Wire reported.

Last month, some Democratic senators introduced the Gas Tax Relief Act, which calls for a moratorium on federal gas tax collection, which is about 18.3 cents per gallon until January 2, 2023, but no action has yet been enacted. The federal gas tax has not been increased since October 1993.

That said, even half-a-dozen Democrat governors have done nothing to free their own citizens from the cost of a gallon of gas.

According to the Federation of Tax Administrators, Pennsylvania tackles at 57.6 cents per gallon – the highest state gas tax in the United States. Wisconsin adds 30.9 cents per gallon to pump prices, Minnesota adds 28.5-cents-per-gallon tax, Michigan gas tax adds 27.2 cents per gallon, Colorado adds 22 cents per gallon, and New Mexico adds 17 cents. The York Post reported.

Wolf is the only governor who is not facing re-election this year because he is term-limited.

At the same time, two Republican governors have actually taken steps to reduce gas prices in their states: Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan and Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp. Each of them signed a law on Friday to temporarily suspend the state-level gas tax.

Maryland law suspended the state’s 38.6 cents per gallon tax for 30 days, while the Georgia measure suspended The Pitch State’s 27.9 cents per gallon tax until May 31.

“This bilateral move will provide some relief from the pain at the pump and is made possible by the prudent financial measures we have taken, resulting in a record budget surplus,” Hogan said at the time of the law’s announcement.

“Of course, this is not a cure-all, and market volatility will continue to cause price fluctuations, but we will continue to use every tool at our disposal to provide relief for Marylanders,” he added.

Kemp announced the law in a video posted on Twitter on Friday.

“The average price of a gallon of gas has risen from 69 2.69 to $ 4.28 since March 2021, an increase of 59%, and researchers now estimate that the average American household can spend an average of $ 2,000 more per year on rising fuel costs and skyrocketing inflation,” he said.

“While some recent price increases have been due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Georgians also know that Washington, DC, policy and politics are pushing inflation to record highs before Putin’s heinous move,” he added.

The Congressional Democrats = the solution to the high gas price, which was brought into office in the first year of the presidency for its policy of being seen as hostile to the fossil fuel industry, is to punish the oil companies and spend billions more on issuing gas-related stimulus checks to Americans. .

“A closer look at the proposed plans, along with common sense, will lead one to believe that the White House plans, seriously or otherwise, will lead to higher inflation and higher gas prices,” the Daily Wire noted.

On Saturday, Axios reported that “the White House has considered giving Americans gas cards to help offset high prices, but has faced strong opposition from congressional committees, questioning the effectiveness and efficiency of the plan.”

According to the outlet, a Democratic caucus explained why the plan was not a good idea:

It will be expensive and badly targeted.
This can make inflation worse and will not do much at low cost.
Delivering the card will be a slow process that could block the IRS in the middle of the filing season, potentially delaying people’s tax returns.

Instead, Democrats in Congress are looking at other measures:

Other ideas discussed include stimulus checks, the use of more ethanol to reduce oil demand, and the cancellation of federal leases from oil companies that are not being actively used, senior Democratic ally Axios told AFP.
Several Democrats have already introduced bills that would suspend the federal gas tax; Tax increases on oil companies for money-tested aid funds; Or pay a federal rebate whenever the price of gas rises above $ 4 per gallon.

Adding hundreds of billions of dollars to an economy already beset by record-high inflation would only exacerbate the problem, some economists have argued.

“Government spending has been a clear factor behind rising consumer prices, although this is not the only one,” the AP noted on Tuesday. “Biden signed a $ 1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package known as the American Rescue Plan last year – and many economists say inflation would have been higher than that.”

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