Coming this Monday: New Gas Taxes?‏

An interesting post from www.americansolutions.com about the cap and trade gas tax.This follows this post about the TARP #2 BANK vote. This follows this post about the lead that the GOP has for the Midterms now and the likelihood of throwing it away! This is a crucial election to roll back Obamacare, abortion, increased immigration, and weak national security.

Coming this Monday: New Gas Taxes?‏
[Bloggers note: you can contact Senator Lindsey Graham here]

On Monday we may see a new gas tax introduced by Senators Graham, Kerry, and Lieberman as part of the energy and climate legislation they have been working on together the last several months.
Earlier this week we asked your fellow American Solutions members in South Carolina to call Senator Graham's office and ask him not to introduce new gas taxes. Many of them reported back that Senator Graham's staff responded by saying that Senator Graham does not support new gas taxes and doesn't have any plans to introduce new gas taxes.
We hope that is true and that Senator Graham, along with Senators Kerry and Lieberman, has indeed changed his mind. If so, it would likely be due in large part to the many American Solutions calls.
But we remain skeptical. We are concerned that the legislation we expect to see Monday will nevertheless contain new gas taxes. For the last several weeks it has been widely reported in the media that the legislation will contain new taxes on gas, diesel, and other transportation fuels. These will be assessed in the form of a fee or other costs imposed on oil companies, which will then be passed on to consumers in the form of higher gas prices.
(At the bottom of this email you will see some examples of reporting on the new gas tax.)
If consumers pay higher fuel prices due to a requirement of government, we at American Solutions consider it a tax, whether it is imposed indirectly at the wholesale level of the oil company and then passed on to consumers in the form of higher gas prices, or directly at the retail level of the average American buying gas at the local gas station. We oppose new taxes on gas, diesel and other transportation fuels, which we believe will kill jobs and stagnate economic growth.
It seems as if the three Senators don't share this view and believe that new costs imposed on oil companies by the government, which will be passed along to motorists at the gas station in the form of higher gas prices, are not new gas taxes.
We disagree, but we can certainly appreciate why they don't want their new legislation to be seen as imposing new gas taxes. In a recent poll of 1,000 adults released by American Solutions, we found that:
83% of all adults and 61% of independent voters have very little or no confidence that a fuel tax will reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
71% of respondents oppose higher gas taxes (sometimes called "linked carbon fees") in order to limit greenhouse gases.
78% believe that higher gas taxes will either kill jobs or have no effect on job growth.
69% oppose any new per gallon gas tax or fuel tax to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
64% of all adults are less likely to support a candidate for Congress who supports a gas tax, and 67% of independent voters are much more likely not to support a gas-tax candidate.
With the average gallon of gas already 80 cents higher than a year ago, it is not surprising that the vast majority of Americans oppose new gas taxes, which at least one organization has estimated could increase the cost of gas by 27 cents per gallon.
Come Monday, if the legislation proposed by Senators Graham, Kerry, and Lieberman contains measures that will increase the price of gasoline, you now know why American Solutions considers it a new gas tax and thus will vigorously oppose it.
We will also be asking for your help in calling your Senators to oppose any such new gas taxes.If next Monday the Senators are insisting that they are not introducing any new gas taxes, but instead are describing a "linked fee" or a requirement that oil companies buy carbon permits, you will know that they are supporting a bill that will raise gasoline, diesel, and other fuel prices.

Gasoline Prices Cheap?

We know gasoline prices have risen a lot in recent years and that is our reality. However, I wanted to send this article for a slight perspective. If you know any "green" people, they might be rejoicing that high gas prices might be saving the environment. Anyway, I thought you might find this interesting. Let me know if you have any comments.

Gasoline Is CheapFour dollars a gallon is outrageous! We should be paying much more.
By Robert BrycePosted Thursday, May 15, 2008, at 3:24 PM ET
The next time you have to take out a loan just to fill up your tank, remember this: Four-dollar-per-gallon gasoline is cheap. There's no doubt that high fuel prices are hurting low-income consumers, and high energy costs are placing a tax on the economy that is slowing investment while sending billions of dollars overseas. It's unsurprising that presidential candidates and members of Congress issue new proposals practically every day to lower gas prices: Stop filling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve! Suspend the federal gas tax! Open ANWR to oil drilling! These proposals are delusions, and Americans are living in a fantasy land when it comes to energy and energy prices. Over the past few years, consumers have been inundated with news stories about the soaring price of gasoline. Invariably, these stories include comments from a motorist who is outraged at the evils of a) Saudi Arabia, b) OPEC, c) Big Oil, d) all of the above.
But by almost any measure, gasoline is still cheap. In fact, it has probably been far too cheap for far too long. The recent price increases are only beginning to reflect its real value. When measured on an inflation-adjusted basis, the current price of gasoline is only slightly higher than it was in 1922. According to the Energy Information Administration, in 1922, gasoline cost the current-day equivalent of $3.11. Today, according to the EIA, gasoline is selling for about $3.77 per gallon, only about 20 percent more than 86 years ago. Given the ever-increasing global demand for oil products—during the first quarter of this year, China's oil consumption jumped by 16.5 percent—and the increasing costs associated with finding, producing, and refining crude oil, it makes sense that today's motorists are paying more for their motor fuel than their grandparents and great-grandparents did. Gasoline is also a fairly minor expense when you consider the overall cost of car ownership. In 1975, gasoline made up 33.4 percent of the total cost of owning and operating a car. By 2006, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, gasoline costs had declined to just 17.1 percent of the total cost of car ownership. Of course, fuel costs have risen by about $1 per gallon since 2006, but even with those increases, fuel continues to be a relatively small part of the cost of car ownership. By contrast, the fixed costs of ownership—insurance, licensing, taxes, and financing—have increased nearly fivefold since 1975. Maintenance costs have also quintupled over the same time period. Given those increases and the relatively low price of fuel, it's not surprising that Americans are opting for big vehicles with powerful engines. Considering the overall cost of owning a vehicle, fuel expenses just aren't a very big deal. History shows that significant declines in U.S. oil consumption occur only after prolonged periods of high prices. Over the last two decades, U.S. consumers have been spoiled by low fuel prices. And those lower prices led to a buying binge that put millions of giant SUVs, pickups, and other gas guzzlers on our roads. Today's higher prices are forcing consumers to adapt. The EIA now expects U.S. gasoline consumption to decline this year—the first drop in demand in 17 years. In April, sales of small cars in the United States were up by 17 percent over the same period a year earlier while sales of SUVs, trucks, and large cars all fell by about 30 percent. On the environmental front, people concerned about greenhouse-gas emissions should be cheering today's oil prices. Expensive motor fuel is the only thing that will lead consumers to use less oil and make the switch to hybrid vehicles, smaller cars, and public transit. Higher oil prices are convincing automakers to change their fleets. Earlier this week, Nissan Motor Company announced that it will begin selling an electric car in the United States and Japan by 2010. Carlos Ghosn, the chief executive of Nissan, made it clear that fuel prices were a factor in the company's decision to build electric cars, telling the New York Times that "the shifts coming from the markets are more powerful than what regulators are doing." American gasoline is also dirt-cheap compared with gas in other countries. British motorists are currently paying about $8.38 per gallon for gasoline. In Norway, a major oil exporter, drivers are paying $8.73. In 2007, out of the 32 industrialized countries surveyed by the International Energy Agency, only one (Mexico) had cheaper gasoline than the United States. Last year, drivers in Turkey were paying three times as much for their gasoline as Americans were. The IEA data also show that in India—where the per capita gross domestic product is about $2,700 (about 6 percent of the per capita GDP in the United States)—drivers have been paying more for their diesel fuel and gasoline than their American counterparts.(Gasoline is also cheap compared with other essential fuels. A Starbucks venti latte costs the equivalent of $23 per gallon, while Budweiser beer runs $11 per gallon.)The simple truth is that Americans are going to have to get used to more expensive gasoline. And while they may continue grumbling at the pump, they need to accept the fact that even at $3.50 or $4 per gallon, the fuel they are buying is still a bargain.