On Wednesday, President Joe Biden urged Congress to postpone federal gasoline and diesel taxes for the upcoming three months. The new action he made was intended to lessen the cost-related pump pressure. This highlights the political poison that comes from the high petrol prices that are imposed during an election year.
The president will request that states suspend their gas taxes or provide an equivalent form of relief. The federal gas tax is currently 18.4 cents per gallon for regular gasoline and 24.4 cents per gallon for diesel fuel. When the price of gasoline reaches an average of around $5 per gallon nationwide, consumers and the general public might save roughly 3.6 percent at the pump if the savings on gas taxes were completely passed.
President Biden Proposes A Three-Month Federal Gas Tax Holiday!!
Many lawmakers and experts from different political parties are skeptical of this novel proposal of a gas tax holiday. The administration is searching for the ideal solution to shield consumers from increasing tax prices at the pump, regardless of what the two parties consider or propose.
Mr. Biden, the honorable president, instructed his staff to set up a meeting with the CEOs of well-known oil companies this week in order to have a thorough conversation about how to lower the growing prices. And Wednesday was the day of the meeting. The president brought up the fact that the oil firms are taking advantage of the public for exorbitant profits during the discussion. People are working extremely hard at the same time to deal with the soaring gas prices.
Instead of hiking prices, Biden questioned the CEOs of the companies about their inability to process more oil. The president increased ethanol blending last summer and has already released oil from the U.S. strategic reserve. Following all of these actions, the authorities are now thinking about a gas tax holiday.
In an interview with State of the Union (CNN), Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm stated that funding for roads will naturally be a part of the gas tax debate.
The Treasury Secretary, Janet Yellen, stated on Monday that she supports the gas tax holiday since consumers are suffering as a result of the increasing gas prices.
The price increase is negatively hurting American households, according to Ms. Yellen, who expressed this opinion during a joint press conference on Monday. He also believes that the situation is not ideal.
It would undoubtedly be difficult to get Congressional approval for the brand-new gas tax break. The Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell have previously declared their support for such a move, despite the fact that Democrats are not particularly strong.
The limited capacity of the oil refineries to produce extra fuel and gas indicates that the cost will likely stay high until the demand starts to decline.
In a joint letter to the president on Wednesday, the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers and the American Petroleum Institute emphasized that refineries are currently operating at their maximum capacity, with half of that capacity being lost as a result of the conversion of the facilities to the production of renewable fuels.