Clinton-McCain gas tax holiday slammed as bad idea

[John Q. Citizen]

ttp://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080430/pl_nm/usa_politics_gastax_economists_dc

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A gas tax holiday proposed by U.S. presidential hopefuls John McCain and Hillary Clinton is viewed as a bad idea by many economists and has drawn unexpected support for Clinton rival Barack Obama, who also is opposed.
ADVERTISEMENT

"Score one for Obama," wrote Greg Mankiw, a former chairman of President George W. Bush's Council of Economic Advisers. "In light of the side effects associated with driving ... gasoline taxes should be higher than they are, not lower."

Republican McCain and Democrat Clinton, who is battling Obama for their party's nomination, both want to suspend the 18.4-cents-per-gallon federal gas tax during the peak summer driving months to ease the pain of soaring gas prices. The tax is used to fund the Highway Trust Fund that builds and maintains roads and bridges.

Economists said that since refineries cannot increase their supply of gasoline in the space of a few summer months, lower prices will just boost demand and the benefits will flow to oil companies, not consumers.

"You are just going to push up the price of gas by almost the size of the tax cut," said Eric Toder, a senior fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center in Washington.

(more..)

[Texas Hill Country]

1. A Brookings economist and Dubya's financial advisor... seriously?

[SemiCharmedQuark]

8. And Paul Krugman.

[Skidmore]

16. And Robert Reich.

Heard him on an editorial piece on NPR this morning. He gave an indepth analysis of why it is a bad idea. Said the dollar needs to be strengthened instead.

[JustinL]

17. and Thomas Friedman

It is great to see that we finally have some national unity on energy policy. Unfortunately, the unifying idea is so ridiculous, so unworthy of the people aspiring to lead our nation, it takes your breath away. Hillary Clinton has decided to line up with John McCain in pushing to suspend the federal excise tax on gasoline, 18.4 cents a gallon, for this summer’s travel season. This is not an energy policy. This is money laundering: we borrow money from China and ship it to Saudi Arabia and take a little cut for ourselves as it goes through our gas tanks. What a way to build our country.

link

This is currently the number one e-mailed article at The New York Times website.

[livetohike]

2. Economic advisors for Obama get a plus and whomever

is advising the Clintons and McCain need to go take Econ 101.

[jsamuel]

3. "Score one for Obama," wrote Greg Mankiw, a former chairman of President George W. Bush's...

[John Q. Citizen]

6. Paul Krugman agrees

I think it is a very bad idea," said Gilbert Metclaf, a economics professor at Tufts University currently working with the National Bureau of Economic Research.

"If we want people to invest in energy-saving cars, we need some assurance that the higher price paid for these cars is going to pay off through fuel savings," he said. "It is a very short-sighted, counterproductive proposal."

Economists also saw it is a poor way of getting money to the households that need it most and warned that it might end up in the cash tills of the oil companies.

"If you want to provide households tax relief, a direct rebate ... is more effective. Not all of the tax relief from a gas tax holiday will be passed on to consumers. Some will likely be kept by refiners," Mankiw said in an e-mail response.

New York Times columnist Paul Krugman was similarly underwhelmed: "It's Econ 101: the tax cut really goes to the oil companies," he wrote on his blog on Tuesday.

[ampad]

4. Oh this one deserves a kick and a rec

[yellowcanine]

5. I think that should be McCain-Clinton gas tax idea. (McCain thought of it first).

I believe it was McCain's idea first and Clinton said "Me too!"

Yep - here is the link.

http://blogs.cars.com/kickingtires/2008/04/clinton-joins-m.html

[John Q. Citizen]

9. Yep. Birds of a feather....

[SemiCharmedQuark]

7. Damn! I just posted this! You beat me!

I checked too. Must have just missed it.

[John Q. Citizen]

11. The more the merrier. People need to know what a pandering crock of BS this is.

It's almost as if McCain/Clinton are saying "Vote for me - get a half tank of gas that isn't!"

[TBF]

12. McCain/Clinton really are quite the pair...

I can't believe they haven't teamed up yet. But many of Hillary's supporters are threatening to vote for McCain so he really should just add her to the ticket as VP. It would be worth it to see Rush Limbaugh's head explode.

[John Q. Citizen]

13. rush should be careful waht he asks for....

[AllentownJake]

10. This is the second dumbest government idea

I heard this week.

The dumbest being distributing wine in PA through vending machines in Grocery Stores (you can't just sell wine in grocery stores in PA)

[my3boyz]

14. Obama needs to get an ad out to counter Hillary's ad..asap. nt

[invictus]

15. Hillary never fails to pander. She is desperate. n/t