The McCain gas tax plan is a giveaway to oil companies, disguised as a gift to consumers

News Type: Event — Seeded on Wed Apr 30, 2008 9:45 AM EDT

Article Source: The New York Times

politics, obama, mccain, election, clinton, gas, tax, evil

John McCain has a really bad idea on gasoline, Hillary Clinton is emulating him (but with a twist that makes her plan pointless rather than evil), and Barack Obama, to his credit, says no.

Why doesn't cutting the gas tax this summer make sense? It's Econ 101 tax incidence theory: if the supply of a good is more or less unresponsive to the price, the price to consumers will always rise until the quantity demanded falls to match the quantity supplied. Cut taxes, and all that happens is that the pretax price rises by the same amount. The McCain gas tax plan is a giveaway to oil companies, disguised as a gift to consumers.

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Groups: Alternative Energy - Greenvine, Election News, Left of Center, Political Analysis
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{"commentId":1750190,"authorDomain":"greenguy"}

greenguy

Well, even simpler - the price of gasoline is made up of 1 - the cost of crude oil 2- the cost of refining crude oil and 3- the gas tax. As you note, removing cost 3 will increase profits for the businesses that handle costs 1 and 2 i.e. Big Oil.

As a Hillary fan, I am supremely disappointed that she supports this policy. It is pandering to the extreme. I think people who support a "holiday" are practicing voodoo economics. It makes sense for our driving to be taxed to pay for maintaining the roads that we drive on; it doesn't make sense taxing cigarettes, for example, to pay for maintaining the roads that we drive on.

Hillary should know better. Good for Obama to oppose this.

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#1 - Wed Apr 30, 2008 10:52 AM EDT

{"commentId":1750492,"authorDomain":"jdl-28"}

jdl-28

McCain have never been for the people only business, he can care less if the middle class go away or any American citizens make a good living. He want companies to stop giving medical insurance and have us buy our own, that mean the insurance companies will have even bigger control on pricing. But there is a lot of people who would not have insurance if they wasn't in a company group plan because of some medical condition. $5000.00 credit on income tax will not cover our cost at all.

Who put the people in office? Who will be voting for him again?

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#2 - Wed Apr 30, 2008 11:54 AM EDT

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INDECENT

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The McCain gas tax plan is a giveaway to oil companies, disguised as a gift to consumers

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