Senator Proposes Scrapping Taxation At Gas Pump - Tax Refineries Instead

U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer said that she agrees with the elimination of the 18.4% gallon tax to be used for highway construction after 2014.

U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer, a California Democrat, who is in charge with writing legislation for the continuation of the highway construction after 2014, said she proposes replacing the levy paid by consumers at the pump with a new tax to be paid on oil directly at refineries. This tax will result in enough revenue to continue highway construction and mass transit for the following six years.

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trmckin - 9/26/2013 10:58:18 AM

+2 Boost

This cost will be pushed back to the pump in the form of higher rack prices at the distribution facilities. Gotta love politicians and their "quick fix" "elect me" mentality.

Agent009 - 9/26/2013 12:29:06 PM

+2 Boost

Oh it will be passed on with a bit of markup on top of it to boot.

MBCLS07 - 9/26/2013 2:07:41 PM

+1 Boost

Typical leftist political maneuver. Concerned only with optics and political opportunity and not at all with real world consequences. Shifting the tax to the refineries (in addition to the taxes they already pay) will do nothing to reduce taxes for American consumers. The tax will simply be passed on to consumers in the price of gas. Only now, the consumer will be kept in the dark as to how much of that cost is due to gov't taxes. It also makes it easier for politicians to raise said taxes without the public realizing it and holding it against gov't. Politicians will just manipulate the public to direct their anger at those "greedy" oil companies. Meanwhile, of course, the gov't continues collecting more revenue per gallon than the oil companies profit. Barbara Boxer is nothing but a shameless political opportunist without any concern for American tax payers.

MorePower - 9/26/2013 3:15:53 PM

+2 Boost

I doubt any consumer believes that any large corporation will simply pay their taxes like most Americans. We all know that they will simply increase gas prices to not only cover the tax but as a means of gouging more profit.

It's funny you call out Boxer and not Cheney & Bush for allowing the petroleum industry to collude together to raise gas prices back in Bush's first term.

reaganeatbrains - 9/26/2013 10:26:36 PM

-1 Boost

how the hell is there anything "typical leftist" about this?

on its face, i don't like the move. but i expect if you didn't know the name of Barbara Boxer, and this was an anonymous - lets say foreign - politician, you would have no ideology to pin it to.

nguyenvuminh - 9/26/2013 2:23:25 PM

0 Boost

Are you guys implying that Corp America has a tendency of taking advantage of additional cost (in this case, the proposed tax) to get extra profit?

reaganeatbrains - 9/26/2013 10:29:41 PM

-1 Boost

whatever it takes to make fossil fuels more expensive, i'm all in.

"expensive" fossil fuels are the key to the health of our entire civilization.