Hillary Clinton And Over 230 Economist Differ On Gas Taxes

A group of over 230 economist have signed a letter stating they don’t think the gas tax holiday proposed by Hillary Clinton and John McCain is a good idea. According to the letter they give three reasons why it is a bad idea. “First, research shows that waiving the gas tax would generate major profits for oil companies rather than significantly lowering prices for consumers,” they wrote. “Second, it would encourage people to keep buying costly imported oil and do nothing to encourage conservation. Third, a tax holiday would provide very little relief to families feeling squeezed.” They feel it will only benefit the oil companies, while increasing the deficit. Some of the economist have even suggested we need to increase the gas tax. Barack Obama has said he thinks Clinton is just “pandering” to the masses, and calls this a “classic Washington gimmick.” But while he was an Illinois state senator he supported a similar suspension of the gas tax because Illinois drivers where upset about gas going over $2.00 a gallon. He says he learned from that experience. I guess he didn’t read the study by Joseph J. Doyle Jr. and Krislert Samphantharak titled “$2.00 Gas! Studying the Effects of a Gas Tax Moratorium,” which concluded “the suspension of the 5% sales tax led to decreases in retail prices of 3% compared to neighboring states. And when the tax was reinstated, retail prices rose by roughly 4%.” Those that oppose the gas tax holiday say it will amount to nothing, about .30 a day, and at the same time they say it will lead to an increase in demand. That logic just doesn’t work. They also fail to recognize the savings to long haul truckers, and farmers. Truck drivers drive about 300 miles a day, and the farm tractors run all day long. These rising fuel costs are a major reason your food bill has gone up so much lately. Clinton has stressed this proposal in her closing arguments to Indiana and North Carolina. “I think you should have some immediate relief. In fact I think it’s a false choice – as my opponent and others have been trying to say, ‘Oh we can’t do anything in the short run to help people, we can only worry about what we do in the long run.’ People live in the short run.” “When are we going to start laying down the line on the oil companies? They have been part of the problem, not part of the solution,” Clinton told her supporters. “I do see you, I do hear you. I do believe that you’re doing the best you can under difficult circumstances and we’re going to get in there and we’re going to reverse these circumstances but in the meantime, let’s provide a little help along the way.” Clinton recognizes this is just a short term band-aid, and has long term solutions as well. She even plans on taking on the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC.) “We’re going to go right at OPEC,” she said. “They can no longer be a cartel, a monopoly that get together once every couple of months in some conference room in some plush place in the world, they decide how much oil they’re going to produce and what price they’re going to put it at.” Then she added, “That’s not a market. That’s a monopoly.” John McCain has responded to the economist by saying, “I find people who are the wealthiest who are most dismissive of a plan to give low-income Americans a little holiday……a little more to give to their children and enjoy the summer a little more. Thirty dollars means nothing to a lot of economists — I understand that. It means a lot to some low-income Americans.”
Alan Cosgrove

Here is Barack Obama’s ad about the gas tax cut called ‘Boost’;

Here is Hillary Clinton’s ad ‘What’s Happened’;