Will a gas tax holiday actually help consumers? Your usual host, Amber Phillips, is off today, but we've got you covered here at 5-Minute Fix. She'll be back tomorrow. Filling up the car feels painful these days, with prices hovering around $5 a gallon. President Biden says he has a solution: Today he announced he'll push Congress to suspend the federal gas tax for the next three months. How big is the federal gas tax? Eighteen cents for each gallon of gas and 24 cents for each gallon of diesel. Biden also wants states to temporarily suspend their gas taxes, which can add another 25 cents to the cost of a gallon. But will Americans feel any difference in their pocketbooks? Experts — and plenty of Republicans and Democrats — are deeply skeptical. The Post's Evan Halper lays out a couple of reasons: Oil companies might pocket most of the benefits. People across the political spectrum have expressed this concern. Biden has slammed oil and gas executives for pocketing large profits, but there's not much the White House can do if that's how the industry responds to a gas tax holiday. It could make prices even worse. Shutting off the gas tax for a few months won't solve an underlying problem: There's not enough fuel available. For the past two years, oil-refining capacity in the United States has declined with plants shuttering and being converted for other uses, as the country tries to move away from fossil fuels. If a gas tax holiday nudges the price of gas downward, that could have the result of increasing demand and making the problem even worse. The tax credits that 13 million people currently receive to help lower premiums are set to expire. Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies are working with Congress to ensure everyone has access to affordable care, for the health of America. | | | | | That was a warning issued by economist Jason Furman, who served as a top economic adviser to President Barack Obama. He recently tweeted that a gas tax holiday could push prices upward, resulting in even more profits for the industry. State-level gas tax holidays didn't help consumers much. Three states — Maryland, Georgia and Connecticut — have already had their own gas tax holidays. New York suspended its tax this month, and Florida said it will lift the levy for October. But economists at the University of Pennsylvania found a substantial portion of the savings didn't trickle down to drivers. Between 58 percent and 87 percent of the savings were passed on to consumers, with the rest going to suppliers. States' taxes and fees on gas currently average to about 38 cents per gallon, much higher than the federal gas tax, so a federal gas tax holiday would probably have an even smaller positive effect on consumers. How helpful is a Trump endorsement? Not terribly helpful for many candidates, it's turning out. Yes, candidates backed by former president Donald Trump have won a handful of big races, including GOP nominations for governor and senator in Pennsylvania. But they've lost in plenty of other races, and last night's batch of primaries added to the list. Voters in Alabama, Georgia, Virginia and Washington, D.C., selected their nominees for the November general election. Here's what you need to know about the results, per our colleague Aaron Blake. Trump suffered more losses in Georgia. Last month, three of Trump's picks lost their races in Georgia. The trend continued with losses last night for Trump-endorsed congressional candidates Vernon Jones and Jake Evans, showing "how little regard Georgia Republicans have for Trump's status as a kingmaker," Aaron explains. That means four Trump-backed candidates have lost their party's nomination for seats in the U.S. House.  U.S. Republican Senate candidate Katie Britt speaks to supporters after winning a runoff against Rep. Mo Brooks on Tuesday. (AP Photo/Butch Dill) | One Trump-backed candidate did win: Katie Britt, running for a Senate seat in Alabama. But while Trump technically endorsed her, it's a little more complicated than that. Britt, former chief of staff to outgoing Sen. Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.), handily won her runoff against Rep. Mo Brooks. But Trump initially endorsed Brooks last year, before changing his mind after Brooks's campaign failed to perform. (Brooks gained ground after Trump pulled his endorsement.) The former president switched the pick to Britt after it was clear she was likely to win. There's an interesting sidebar to all of this: The Senate could be getting younger. If Britt is elected, the 40-year-old will be the youngest woman in the Senate. Several other candidates under 45 have won their party's nomination so far, and more have primaries coming up. Only two current senators are younger than 45 years old. "It's too simple to say voters are looking for youth," Aaron writes, but this potential trend is worth keeping an eye on. | 
Email
No comments:
Post a Comment