McCain proposes gas tax holiday

What a stupid idea. Not only will removing these taxes have minimal effect on travel patterns and the overall economy, they will be devastating to our national transportation infrastructure. The Highway Trust Fund is a self-contained pool of money used to fund our nation's highways, bridges, and other transportation improvements, and it is funded almost entirely through fuel taxes. Remove those taxes for the three months of the year when they usually bring in the most revenue, and the I-35 bridge collapse in Minneapolis will be the tip of the iceberg.

Fuel tax is maybe the one tax we all pay where you can see exactly where the money goes. Our nation's transportation infrastructure is deteriorating at an alarming rate already, in part because this tax, unchanged for over 15 years, has not kept up with inflation or the skyrocketing cost of construction. We should be raising the gas tax, not lowering it.

Also, let's not forget all the good paying construction jobs that are supported by transportation projects, which are supported by fuel taxes.

This is pathetic. Why would we encourage the use of petroleum, instead of alternative energy??? Here's what he should be saying:
http://digits.hrblock.com/ssDigits/digits.php?rType=1&sPath=1665&sNode=1665&uId=279

How could one weekend trickle down to pricing on groceries, etc.? Silly sounding.

A Gas Holiday? Why not repeal this theft by night. As for local contructions projects, how about better appropriations and less exuberant salaries by politicians?

Regardless of whether I think it's a good idea, I would be very happy for that kind of monetary relief, and so would a lot of Americans. Congress is too free-wheeling with other peoples' money. Maybe they aren't with the gas tax (I don't know much about it), but they are the most inefficient group of people around.

And a word on those "good-paying construction jobs?" You mean people that stand around holding signs who get paid about as much as I do for my college-educated, salaried job? Yeah - if that isn't a waste of my tax money, I don't know what is.

My vote may just be swinging towards McCain now -- FINALLY someone who sees what the root cause of the issues are

Higher taxes on gasoline are in the long term interests of this country. Besides rebuilding our infrastructure, it makes alternative fuel sources more competitive. Buying oil from the Middle East, Russia and Venezuela only supports the oil producing nations which currently are not friends of this country. Help us out in other areas, but not on the price of gas. In addition if you do follow McCain's plan, the oil companies and oil producing nations will just raise the price, so instead of it going to us, any reduction will go to them.

If you remove the gas tax then the average taxpayer pays for road maintanence. The gas tax should be raised so the motorists pay for their share. The reason why gas prices are high is because the government subsidizes driving, more people do it, and there is less fuel to go around. Driving should be artificially expensive instead of artificially cheap.

This idea is very poorly conceived and is nothing more than a gimmick to make it look like something is being done.

We should be considering raising the tax to encourage conservation, alternate sources of energy, and public transportation, not cutting the tax. Instead of spedning so much money to subsidize private transportation (roads), we should be increasing our subsidies for public transportation.

I hope that we see better leadership on this issue from our presidential candidates than we have seen so far.

It is also a stupid idea because we need to discourage the use of oil and encourage the use of alternatives. We need to stop subsidizing the oil industry and start subsidizing the electric car industry.

This would not help at all. Americans need dollars off the price of gas, not cents. The price of oil would go up and then the price of gas would go up regardless of the federal tax relief. It's still a no-win situation for us americans.

Sounds like an out of touch elitist's view on how to solve the little peoples problem. Lets give um an incentive to go on vacation in the summer so they'll spend more to pump up the economy, then we return to the reality of our real economic problems in the fall. They'll never even realize how we conned them.

why don,t they just tap into the strategic oil reserves and flood the market with crude that might bring the price of gas down and put some more money into other parts of the economy.

Let's use some of this fuel tax to move quickly to the use of hydrogen fuel.
Several benifits in addition to removing ourselves from dependency of oil such as
air quality improvements and global warming concerns.
Perhaps Congress could also provide tools and money in an active support of the needed ultimate program. ( Ethanol only pushes this method further into the future and causes food prices to rise)
Let's " bite the bullet"

The gas tax has actually declined substantially per gallon as the price has increase. The Federal portion of the gas tax is only 19 cents. YES, 19 CENTS. Tell me, how does that $1.90 help on 10 gallons of gas? $1.90 won't even buy you another gallon of gas. Good job McCain, continuing to advocate bankrupting our country for political gain. SHAME ON YOU JOHN MCCAIN.

This is a brilliant move and would have been somethign Bill Clinton's advisors would have approved of -- 'middle-class' values.

So if the Republicans are the ones to be creative as we steam toward a recession, well, more power to them. I am an independent with enough disdain for both parties.

But tempory tax relief and tax refunds are just the thing most Americans need right now. The recession no one wants to admit to is killing many families whose parents have extended themselves beyond what they can afford. In these times of recession, keeping American families afloat is far more imortant that highway funds -- which won't suddenly stop given the pork barrel projects that litter the FY 09 budget.

This is a good move. Probably won't solve the problem but will surely help.

Why is everyone so gung ho to tax themselves? All we need is for this government to stop giving themselves pay raises, stop sucking up to corporations, and stop gouging the lower and middle class to pay for it all.

How much money has been spent in Iraq in the last six years? Now how much money has been spent on the United States? The government is stepping in to help the big guys. But us little people in Dick Cheney's words (only nicer) screw you, we don't care!

REMEMBER THE HOME OF THE FREE AND THE LAND OF THE BRAVE? ha ha ha

This would largely benefit oil companies as it would simply drive up demand and allow for more gasoline to be sold and the price paid to Exxon would go up. I think that making the tax on diesel fuel the same as gasoline makes more sense, because transportation cost can be seen in every element in the economy. Our truckers are getting raped by high diesel cost and they have no choice but to drive so minimal demand side impact. Diesel is a more efficient fuel and we should be encouraging better fuel economy. Half the cars in Europe are diesel.

Someone might want to tell John McCain: We want to use LESS gas. Cutting taxes on gas, as well as his plan to stop adding to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, would increase our consumption at exactly the time when we need to be reducing it. Typical myopic Republican economic policy.

I never thought I would see this happen.

John McCain's making the transition from fairly principled, fiscally conservative senator to pandering, fiscally irresponsible candidate.

I've never seen eye to eye with John McCain on social issues like abortion, but I thought that I could count on him to at least operate from a base of "truly conservative" (i.e. "don't spend what you aren't willing to collect in taxes") fiscal principles that many of us personally embrace as "don't overspend your income".

I'm deeply disappointed that when push comes to shove, McCain's sacrificed these core principles to create an unfunded giveaway.

Fiscally conservative American voters don't want to hear anything about tax cuts unless those cuts are proven to not jeopardize a balanced budget. Right now that means we don't want to hear about tax cuts - we want to hear proposals for spending cuts and/or tax increases, so we can make intelligent choices between those options to the extent that we can and still balance the budget.

well , it beats nothing and thats what you get from liberal democrats who r trying to turn this country into a third world one. all statesw should rule and be responsible for thier own welfare. except for contributions to the military and we should have national health care..under the code of military..like they run thier hospitals and jpay the same to doctors. then proces would drop. if you are a welfare state then jpay it yourselfs.

I have to agree with 'sayanything', The oil companies and OPEC would just put what would be taxes into their own pockets. I am way to cynical to believe the oil companies would do anything else. I believe the transportation system built with the fuel taxes has contributed more to productivity in the US than any other one thing you can name.

I would prefer an honest tax reform rather than hollow bribery.

Sounds like a great idea to me. The more money we can keep out of the hands of the government the better! People are worried about the transportation infrastructure deteriorating? It's already deteriorated. This idea would be beneficial to the american people. I'm sure if hussein or hillary suggested this tax relief, the libs would be in favor!!!!

This is a completely myopic policy.

Removal of the gasoline tax will only encourage consumption and propel demand, leading to a spike in oil prices on the international market. To keep up with surging demand, US-based oil companies will need to purchase more oil, pitting them against rising demand from China and India. Excess oil capacity in the market is already at an all-time low, so where will that petroleum come from? Fixed supply, higher demand: higher prices. Any "gains" from a suspended excise tax will be quickly wiped out by oil at $120 per barrel and more.

McCain.... isn't he also the one who said he didn't know much about economics?

The fuel tax gas should be doubled or tripled so people drive less or use more fuel efficient vehicles. No energy costs should be figured into cost of living increases. By including energy in cost of living wage increases there is no incentive to be come more energy efficient.

OK, wrong-headed on so many levels. Economics 101--the price of gas at the pump is set by the market (supposedly). If the tax is removed, how does that magically lower the demand or increase the supply? Likely we'll pay much the same and much of any difference will go to the oil industry instead of to the government for highway maintenance. How is that in improvement? And what about global warming? McCain being the one Republican in recent years to get out ahead of this issue should realize that this is exactly the wrong recipe for reducing our appetite for burning fossil fuels.

I'm tired of pandering proposals, I don't care what party they come from. This is a dumb idea, and it won't help anything, for all the reasons stated above. Sometimes I think that politicians think we're stupid.

Instead of "tax holidays" and "free government giveaways" --- all of which are robbing Peter to pay Paul --- we need to start thinking seriously how we're going to make ends meet as a country. That will mean working harder, living in smaller houses, actually paying off our mortgages, thinking about the long term, saving for retirement, forgoing big SUVs if we can't afford them, improving our skills, etc. It's unglamorous and is not a way to get rich quick, or even get out of our current problems quick. But this is the stuff that will actually improve our economy over the long run.

The party's over, now let's get to work.

The par

The par

If John McCain believes in free markets then he agrees that the market sets the price of fuel.
How is the price of fuel going to go down.
The price is set by what people are willing to pay.
The Oil Companies will just pocket the difference and we will still pay the same price.

"And because the cost of gas affects the price of ....., packaging..... these immediate steps will help to spread relief across the American economy." This makes McCain sound ignorant. The majority of packaging for consumer goods is produced as close as possible to the manufacturing facility where the actual product is made. And like it or not America, most of what we buy is not made or packaged in America. And 3 months of not paying tax on gas is not going to "trickle down" to realized savings for the average American. These savings will equal profit for the packaging manufacturers.
Enough with "trickle down economics."

Not a bad idea from Memorial Day through Labor Day. Could possibly encourage consumer spending on vacations or short get-a-ways plus, provide minor relief for the eonomy.

The real solution to the high cost of gas is to drill the North Dakota oil fields that are said to have so much oil and get us away from the reliance on foreign oil. This should produce a very nice impact on gas prices as well as, on our economy.

Amazing...Everyone wants something for nothing. We need to go electric as a nation. Creating a new lithium battery power source, we can stimulate the economy by "TRUE" green alternatives. STOP biofuel immediately!! I don't know about you, but I like to eat. Raise the GAS tax, and stop reliance on petroleum. Don't create new problems, solve old ones. ELECTRIC!! Invest in battery power. Stop the subsidies to th oil industry before cutting tax revenue we desperately need to maintain our AGING infrastructure. It's like this guy is making decisions based on the fact he isn't going to be around for the consequences. 82?! 83?? Old, old man.

Duh
Repeal the tariff on Brazillian ethanol,there is no tariff on oil from our pals in venezuela or arabia.The ethanol lobby in Iowa has caused this problem with the intent of protecting the silly ethanol industry aspirations ,causing food prices to skyrocket.I believe John McCain spoke out against this folly long ago

How about proposing an end to the combustion engine. Build Nuclear Power plants to supply electricity to all electric vehicles. The vehicles could be mandated to have exchangeable batteries that have a standard size to fit all vehicles.

Most vehicles aren't driven over 200 miles in a day....So they wouldn't require a battery exchange. All other long trips would require a customer to stop at a convenience store,(Gas Station Previously,) and exchange a battery.

The spent nuclear fuel rods could go to Yucca Mountain, from the nuclear power plants. The spent batteries could be burned in a plasma burner. Plasma burners are going to replace the dump anyways.

How hard is this to figure out really. Tell the car companies they have so many years to change over to electric vehicles. Tell the states governments, that they are going to build nuclear power plants to supply the energy.

And tell the whining environmentalists to shut up for a change. This would do more...Than any tax cut ever will. It's time to get rid of oil addiction and the wars that are needed to keep this resource flowing. You don't need the Middle East if you don't need their oil. We are tired of sending our money to other governments, so they can attack us with it later.

A few words to the comments already posted.

1. A 3 month break in the gas tax this year wouldn't have any effect on the country's infrstructure work already in progress. The money being spent now was already appropriated 3 - 5 years ago. A brief decrease in funds available for future projects might actually be a good thing because it could force higher priority things to the forefront.

2. Good paying road or construction jobs are a total myth. Only the 3 or 4 guys with big guts standing around watching everybody else work get good pay. The rest of the crew could make the same or more working at McDonalds, doing landscape work or picking fruit, which would help us overcome the illegal immigrant issue.

3. The great alternative energy saviour known as ethanol is equally to blame for the rise in food prices. That and the now well documented fact that it's rise in usage is contributing more to global climate change. Should alternatives be found and used? Absolutely. But only after extensive testing and study. Not based on environmental relgion scare tactics.

4. Higher taxes at the federal level gives too much power to Washington. Higher taxes of all forms will eventually be the norm and may be necessary. But they should be done at the state level and the states and state governments should be more responsible for all infrastructure, etc. Sending more money to Washington and then having to wait for that money to trickle back to you is the biggest and most inefficient use of our money there is. Washingon should only be getting taxes for the military, border protection, foreign relations, and social security and they could easily do those things with only half or less of the money we all send to them now.

This country is definitely broken. But it's broken because too many of us have our hand out waiting and wishing for the federal government to take care of us. Wake up people! The more power you give to Washington, the less free you truly are. Demand spending cuts first and then large tax cuts second. Keep more of your own money and pay more to your local and state governments. Demand that they be more responsible to your needs. Keep more of your own money where you actually live instead of letting it be used to prop up irresponsibilty elsewhere.

Federal agencies that can and should immediately be eliminated are the Dept. of Education - they don't educate anybody. They are just a waste of money that could and should be spent locally. Environmental Protection Agency - again, sucks money out of actual protection and enforcement to push paper and salary beauracrats. Dept. of the Interior - land management, couldn't land in each state be better managed by each state? These are just a start. McCain is absolutely correct that we need a top down assessment of the entire federal government and then all dead weight that could be better managed at the state level should be eliminated. Then the states need to be forced to take up the responsibility.

OK, for all you folks that think this is a good idea, you simply just don't get it. Gas prices are not going through the roof for any other reason than the fact that the FEDERAL RESERVE is bailing out wall street and crushing the dollar with every step by creating run away INFLATION. Every time you hear them talk about lowering the rates or injecting billions of dollars into the economy, what they are actually doing is lowering the very value of that dollar. The reason for this is these dollars that are being used are being printed out of thin air and injected into the money supply. THIS CAUSES INFLATION FOLKS. It is the artificial destruction of the currency through manipulation.

(Here's an elementary example... if I have ten forks in existence, then each of those forks have a specific value to people. Now, what happens when I suddenly make 1 Million more forks and flood them into circulation... the value of your 1 in 10 forks suddenly plummets through the floor, because now it is no longer 1 in 10, it is now 1 in 1 Million ten. This is the same thing the Fed is doing every time they print money out of thin air and inject it into the money supply.)

Here's what our leaders need to do to save this economy. Stop the endless waste of spending on a war that is not essential to our national security. Bring the troops home. Congress should move to immediately suspend the powers of the FEDERAL RESERVE, A PRIVATE BANKING INSTITUTION THAT UNCOSTITUTIONALLY MANIPULATES OUR COUNTRIES CURRENCY AND FINANCIAL WELL BEING. Congress should once again begin printing the money as authorized by the Constitution and re-instate some sort of commodity backing of the dollar, so that it is not simply paper printed out of thin air.

Then the government needs to cut about 75% of it's spending on social programs and remove the INCOME TAX from existence. This would provide the most incredible releif to average every day citizens of any program they could propose. Imagine being able to take home your entire paycheck at the end of the week. This would go leaps and bounds further than offering you $.18 cents off per gallon of gasoline. Those that currently benefit from those social programs that are being cut would eventually be taken care of by replaced programs that would be non-profit, such as red cross, etc.

People, you better start getting your heads out of your behinds and start to see where the root of this economic problem lies. The FED RESERVE did this to us several times before in it's existence, manipulating the market and causing these periods of financial turmoil. The last and most harsh was the great depression of the 30's. If you think for a second we're not headed for the same again, you better wake up before it's too late.

And soon as the price decreases by 18 cents at the pump OPEC will increase the price by $1.00 or more per barrel. This is another lame attempt by McCain to appeal to the "little guy". Very pathetic. It shows how out of touch he reall is.

Good Idea , However the Goverment has to stop this spending. We need to review each area of spending. True the man or woman holding the sign making more money , if you don't like it go apply for the job. We need to lower Taxes. We need good Ideas from all of people not just the politicians. We need to work together and look for the way to make these ideas work and not just find fault with them.

McCain's my candidate. I cannot see voting for candidates that offer nothing but increased taxes and spending like these two Democratic candidates offer. They offer these "giveaways" at outlandish cost to the American taxpayers, just you wait and see; both of these Democratic candidates are really far-out left-wing liberals with differring views in their political thinking, it really scares me. I agree with Mark Litteral, these two Liberal Democrats are planning to turn our country into a third-world country. Everything would be state run, the result would be devastating. This happened in the UK following World War II when they voted out Winston Churchill and voted in Clement Atlee, it was the downfall of the British Empire (look at it now!). Atlee and his very left-wing cabinet nationalized everything includng all the utilities, public transportation and airlines.

You realize they just implemented a law in Japan that got rid of taxes on gasoline... probably permanently? Surely this was inspiration for this idea. Well the main inspiration is to get elected president, of course, by cutting taxes right before election. But anyway, it will probably be a good thing, as gas taxes hurt the middle class the most.

If you really want to stiumulate the economy from Memorial Day to Labor Day, give people more time off to spent their money..not just the begrudgingly given two weeks...I mean four or even six weeks like in Europe....after all their currency is now worth 50 per cent more than ours so they must doing something right....
they can pay their bills, too. The oil companies will just pocket the difference and prices will stay the same without those taxes.

Bad idea #1: Government should raise price of gasoline.
Bad idea #2: Government should lower the price of gasoline.

Good idea: The free market should determine the price of gasoline.

If any alternative energy source is economically feasible, by definition, it will emerge on the market on its own. If the price of gasoline continues to rise, competing energy sources may find their way in rather quickly. Legislation can NEVER allocate our scarce resources as efficiently and quickly as the free market.

Incompetent and dangerous.
Our Federal fuel taxes are already among the least of the industrialized nations.
High oil costs are a chronic condition, thus solutions must be long term.
Long term solutions require leadership, leadership that would be at odds with the energy monopolies in this country. Thus, no such leaders will ever arise. Such is capitalistic democracy.
Moreover, the relieving of fuel tax would be presumably followed by their reenactment later in the year, when things could be much worse for the economy. The resulting backlash could spell the end of federal fuel tax, or its significant reduction, at the peril of our already increasingly decrepit transportation infrastructure.
A visionary and leader John McCain certainly is not.

Millenium-Traders,

(1) how does this proposal translate into help for the economy? What it will do is cause a run on gas, if the oil companies don't simply pocket the extra profit.

(2) they've been drilling in North Dakota for years, and gas prices have only gone up. They're spending huge amounts of money to do it, too, because it's more expensive to extract oil from shale. It's probably ultimately profitable for the oil companies involved, but it won't help a bit as far as national security or consumer gas prices are concerned.

are you people eaten up with stupid.doing away with any tax even for a brief period is a start.
our collective congress and president have seen no tax or spending that seem to be enough of late.
allowing our money be spent by us and not them,what a crazy thought

To reiterate:

Fuel tax does not go into the general fund, it goes to fund transportation projects, and that's it. Has been that way since Eisenhower. Similarly, transportation projects are not funded from general tax revenues, they are funded from fuel taxes. It's a USER FEE, so reducing the fee to get people to drive more, thus doing more damage, requiring greater investment in transportation, while we collect less revenue to pay for it, is TERRIBLE POLICY. Yes, our infrastructure has already deteriorated, and it's going to get a lot worse before it gets better unless our politicians have the testicular fortitude to have drivers actually pay their share of what it costs to build and maintain the roads.

McCain knows it too, and he'd never actually sign this bill as president. He's just pandering to the republican "it's my right to drive a gas-guzzler, shut up tree huggers" base.

What we need here is sensible policy. Better transportation legislation, and user fees that make sure everyone who CHOOSES to drive pays their share. I'll have plenty of money left in my pocket for fun this summer, not by paying less for gas, but by NOT DRIVING. Try it, you might like it.

That's a very nice gesture in an election year but it is like placing a band aid on on a six inch wound. How about addressing the problem with a long term solution that will wean us off the oil. As for reigning in the GOP spending over the first 6 years of the Bush administration..... That's basically paying for the tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans that he wants to continue. Thanks alot John.

Get out on the highways and observe the speed which everyone is traveling. If the cost of fuel was REALLY IMPORTANT to the consumer they would slow down to 45 MPH and get many more miles per gallon.

Make observations how people are dealing with energy; heating/cooling their homes/pools, what kind of cars they are driving, how many unnecessary trips they are making, are they using reusable bags when going to the store, etc.

We the people just don't get it YET!

Get out on the highways and observe the speed which everyone is traveling. If the cost of fuel was REALLY IMPORTANT to the consumer they would slow down to 45 MPH and get many more miles per gallon.

Make observations how people are dealing with energy; heating/cooling their homes/pools, what kind of cars they are driving, how many unnecessary trips they are making, are they using reusable bags when going to the store, etc.

We the people just don't get it YET!

OMG will Dick Durbin and Nancy P. have a hissy fit. They have never seen a tax they haven't loved. And the thought of having a tax holiday....................OMG.

Incompetent and dangerous.
Our Federal fuel taxes are already among the least of the industrialized nations.
High oil costs are a chronic condition, thus solutions must be long term.
Long term solutions require leadership, leadership that would be at odds with the energy monopolies in this country. Thus, no such leaders will ever arise. Such is capitalistic democracy.
Moreover, the relieving of fuel tax would be presumably followed by their reenactment later in the year, when things could be much worse for the economy. The resulting backlash could spell the end of federal fuel tax, or its significant reduction, at the peril of our already increasingly decrepit transportation infrastructure.
A visionary and leader John McCain certainly is not.

Why are we repeating history and continue to be captive to friendly and aggressive countries that see us as a source of riches as we buy their crude? We have the technology to drill throughout the USA with little to no impact. How can we be hostage to a minority of “tree huggers” that when the ingenuity of America shows we can have it all, the safe extraction of oil. Remember they said that the caribou population would decline if the pipeline was created? They actually have increased their numbers because of it! They birth their young by it because it is warmest by the pipeline. Atomic energy should be a major effort. If the majority of energy produced in France is atomic why can’t America do the same or did we loose our ability to be the best in the world? It’s clean and with current safe guards, secure. Continue to advance new technologies and drill! And why is it the China and other developing countries have a pass from the UN and do not have to meet the same emission standard we do. So if I understand this correctly we are responsible for the pollution of the world and yet help fund their actions by being held captive to them.

A audaciously insulting idea that assumes the average American is too stupid to know when he or she is being robbed blind by corporate robber barons.

Unfortunately, I'm not sure McCain is wrong in that assumption.

I think it is a great idea!
We are a family owned Excavating company, with many trucks and pieces of equipment that burn fuel daily and plow snow in the winter. As a business owner
I am thrilled to finally see someone take action, instead of playing the blame game.

It would save me $33.41 assuming I fill up once per week during the time period. I promise if the tax cut goes through I will pump the extra $ into the economy.

Idiotic.

Decrease the cost of gas by .34 cents a gallon by repealing the tx and the gas companies will raise the price of gas by .34 cents.

We pay the same, they get richer, our roads go even further down hill.

Idiotic

Thanks for the laugh Mark. It's amazing how many are still buying the Republican con that they are the fiscally responsible ones, even though since 1980, 70% of our national debt was provided by Republican administrations. Apparently as long as Rush and the other con artist keep repeating their lies then some idiots will believe them.

Only a few months ago we were told about the crumbling bridge and highway infrastructure. Does McCain not read the papers? Does he not know that more money for these repairs is need, not less?

Under his same logic with the Bush tax cuts when the "holiday" is over it will amount to a tax increase.

Wow it would mean I could keep my V8, Dumb idea
I am just wondering why we are not "soaring" to change, I don't see us using our coal properly., I don't see a change to our homes on insulation, I don't see massive changes for more nuclear stations. For the food prices, what do the oil
producing countries expect ? They bet on oil prices tables with glee, NOW they wine about food prices they have to pay into our food producing system. We should put the loaf of bread on the free market tables, in no time bread futures would hit a 100 dollars per loaf.

The problem with anyone running for a government position is that they tell us what we want to hear and then they change their minds once they get elected. I think that the fuel tax reprieve is something that would definitely stimulate spending. Many families like to travel and with the high price of gasoline, it will put a damper on most of those summer vacations. I go camping and we usually spend two to three weeks at a time traveling around. It would be nice to have that tax cut for the summer vacation that my family and I have planned. I think that the American people would benefit from these breaks. If that is going to make less money for the U.S.Government, well there is a simple solution for that problem. Make everyone pay a flat tax on the money that they earn and make it harder to shelter money from the govenrment. This could eliminate a lot of the short falls in the government money. The government must also be liable for thier frivolous spending. I guess that is enough rambling from me. I think it is a good plan to give us a tax break on gas. We will save at the pump as well as the register.

All good points of views..

I also believe this is a dumb idea as well.. However, being a cynic as I am, I believe what will happen is that this is a ploy to allow them to raise taxes elsewhere to make up for the deficit that this temporary fix will cause..

And when the temporary fix expires, they would still keep in place the added tax bonus that they rammed through on top of the now returning tax revenue from the gas tax reprieve...

It's all smoke and mirrors...

I loved the saying:

"REMEMBER THE HOME OF THE FREE AND THE LAND OF THE BRAVE?"

Only, I believe you misquoted it...

It actually is:

"THE LAND OF THE FREE AND THE HOME OF THE DEPRAVED..."

Cheers.. And may God help us all...

Only in Massachusetts will residents suggest increasing taxes on themselves. Since when has higher taxes and bigger government solved anything! As for the cost of gasoline, let's also consider the weakness of the dollar and how that affects oil trade.

Good start Senator John McCain,
Energy drives our national economy. God gave us fossil fuels to use wisely. We can use nuclear for good.

More time should be spent by the Sierra Club and others like them to promote responsible fossil fuel use while engineering a fuel better then Ethanol. They need to stop this incesant obstructionism.

Gas tax relief should be followed by a payroll tax furlow for real short term stimulus.
Long term we need to kick start this economy by drilling and there by taking away the Middle east oil threats. The US can produce $40 a gallon crude.

Well, I'm all about switching over to more fuel efficient vehicles, but we can't just triple the gas tax yet. We have to wait till more alternative fueled cars are highly available (thereby prices drop) and also wait till our own vehicles are broken down. No one will buy a brand new fuel efficient car in our economy right now when they still have a decent working one. It's just not cost effective. I predict that in 5-10 years from now alternative fuels will be more available and things will start to change. After during these 5-10 years we should tax the heck out of the gas. I'm not in debt or anything like that, I'm doing pretty well. But I'm not (don't know about others) going out of my way to buy a Prius just for the heck of it. That makes no sense, unless you are an ignorant liberal...

All in all, I am just waiting till this is all over. Good luck US of A. We just need a competent president this next election....competence....I can deal with that.

Another half assed fix from one of the 500 finest politicians money can buy.

Taxes are based on a percentage of the fuel cost. Since the cost is now higher so too are the taxes. If for years the taxes were sufficient at the much lower price it would seem there should be some surplus. After the holiday we will be going back to being over-taxed. Also bear in mind that the tax has created a situation of less infrastructure use and therefore less maintenance cost.

Translation:

OK, everybody. Fill up your tank this summer, go on a road trip, and bring your CREDIT CARD! You're gonna need it to pay for those $10 bowls of BEANS and RICE you'll be eating. And all that increased consumption will keep our magical PRINTING PRESSES running so we can conquer the world! And hopefully, this will keep all you SHEEP pacified, so we neocons and neolibs don't get lynched.

Why not post my comments? They were well thought out. What are you afraid of... and you call this free media. What a joke.

When President + Congress = 1 Party
Taxpayers Pay the Bill

Vote Republican President + Democratic Congress
Taxpayers Have Had Their Fill!

To: Clinging to GUNS AND RELIGION

You are absolutely wrong. The gas tax is tied to the gallon, not the price, as it SHOULD be. It's no wonder there isn't any money to fix things, as the real value of the revenue stream has not kept pace with inflation.

Leave it to an ignoramus such as yourself to think we can have roads and bridges to magically appear out of nowhere for free.

Finally a solution to saving some money. If McCain keeps it up I may just have to vote for him over Obama. We need to reduce fuel prices immediately and permanently to see a drop in food prices and some money go back into the economy but at least a short term savings over the summer months is helpful.

YES!! Do it now! Any idea that means I give less of my hard-earned money to the government is a good idea.

Those advocating alternative fuels have to realize ONE INCONVENIENT TRUTH - Alternative fuels are a joke! If they're so wonderful, how come they're not here yet? The free market would deliver any new form of energy to us cheaply and efficiently - but oh wait - that's right - nothing beats gas!! Nothing's as cheap, efficient, or safe right now as gas!

Hey Eco-Tools - get over your pathetic liberal guilt and join society already. If you can't come up with a viable solution, quit whining. And don't bring your beloved baby boomer conspiracy theory junk to the table either. GM does NOT have a fuel cell vehicle locked away in a warehouse that gets 100mpg right now. Hydrogen cars are NOT some wonderful technology being held back by Exxon. Wind farms are not an option because you know what? It's not windy all the time! Oh yeah, maybe a small problem there with that one!

I think this is an idea that has some face validity at its most basic level; economically, taxes do result in a deadweight loss in efficiency for that particular market. However, as others have pointed out, there are external costs for markets such as this (road maintenance, carbon emissions, etc.), and the gasoline taxes only cover a fraction of those. Moreover, McCain's proposal won't help the consumer very much: Gasoline demand is inelastic, so consumers won't use too much more gas when the costs; as a result, that extra slack in the market will go mostly to increased profits for the suppliers. In short, this idea is a giveaway to oil companies masquerading as tax relief for middle and working class consumers.

The free market doesn't work very well in an economic environment where there is a near-monopoly and the cost of entering the market as a supplier is very high. The near-monopoly can credibly threaten to flood the market with cheaper goods and wipe out new suppliers who have just invested heavily to enter the market. Even if the near-monopoly doesn't explicitly make these threats, the investment community is quite capable of reading the handwriting on the wall and responding to the potential threat by walking away from the investment opportunity.

This is exactly what has happened in the energy market and in the related market for energy conservation technologies.

For most of the last 3 decades, OPEC's been capable of simply opening the taps a bit more and forcing the cost of energy down. For most of the last 3 decades, investment in (for example) extracting energy from the tar sands of Athabasca has remained at the more or less "playing around" level. Investment in solar energy, wind energy, more efficient automobiles, etc. has languished.

Recently, demand around the world (particularly in newly emerging energy markets such as India and China) has increased to the point where it is believed that OPEC is pumping oil near capacity. The threat to heavy investment in new energy production and conservation is gradually being reduced, which makes that investment less risky. Sure enough, development of the tar sands of Athabasca is moving ahead, solar energy technologies are receiving more investment, and even American auto manufacturers are starting to invest "serious" money in hybrid technologies.

The current squeeze that we're all experiencing could be considered part of the natural marketplace shift, but operating at a relatively slow pace. If we want to hasten the shift along, we need to identify where we want to go, and proactively make some effort to get there. If you believe that increasing the energy supply is important, then providing economic incentives to alternative energy suppliers is the right way to go. If you believe that reducing dependence on oil is important, remove some of the current economic incentives for oil exploration. If you believe that conservation is the way to go, provide economic incentives to developers and early adopters of conservation technologies.

For goodness sakes, please don't think that providing an economic incentive to drivers and oil companies (removing any portion of the gas tax) will in any way help us get over this energy dependence problem. As previous posters have indicated, some of the tax reduction will wind up in consumers pockets and some will wind up in big oil's pockets. But the net effect of that tax reduction will be to drive us away from both new sources of energy and conservation.

Leadership requires making decisions that might be painful in the short term in order to achieve longer term greatness. We've stood on the cusp of solidly addressing the energy problem for 30 years, and the most vigorous leadership in this area was to decide to invade Iraq. We should demand better from our leaders!

To "Clinging to GUNS AND RELIGION":

You are wrong. Gas taxes are not calculated as a percentage of the price of fuel. They are 18 cents per gallon, period, no matter what the rest of the price is. Every gallon of gas you buy, 18 cents goes to the federal Highway Trust Fund, as it has since 1991, the last time that tax was raised.

What an interesting argument to watch...

Those who know a thing about how the world actually works (market forces) produce long statements on such matters while those who claim to want to "let the market do its thing" lambaste liberals with "I want my damn money!" but then want roads to drive their behemoths on.

No one wants to take away your Tahoe...just pay the real cost of owning one. Yes, for the roads you want to drive and for defaming the environment the rest of us have to live in.

according to howstuffworks.com, the u.s. consumes about 146,000,000,000 gallons of gasoline annually. divide that by the 301,000,000 people in our country, and that's about 485 gallons of gasoline annually per person. divide that by 365.25 days in a year, and that's about 1.33 gallons of gasoline per person per day -- savings of $0.24 per person.

that'll give the country one quarter of the economic relief provided by ellsbury when he got everyone a free taco.

what this will do it make the gas companies about $96,000,000 when just about everyone uses the break to buy a little more gas.

nice try.

I live in rural America and work to feed some of you people. Put me out of business and you all starve to death - unless you want to import your food from WHERE?

I do not have public transportation available to me.

My combines, tractors, and trucks will not run on electricity. These implements run 16-20 hours a day. They need high powered fuel - diesel fuel.

When will we stop the environmentalists and politicians from trying to force the USA into becoming a 3rd world country.

The environmentalists would all be happy if we were wiping our arses with leaves and walking or riding bicycles for transportation. Except of course for people like Al Gore who can afford carbon offsets!

Another thing, today, I have sufficient ammo to protect myself and my family. When the proverbially shit hits the fan, stay out of my range!

Gas tax relief? For the summer?

Did someone say "bandaid"?

So, if we were talking about Microsoft, the Justice Department would be licking their chops and sharpening their teeth. However, this is "big oil". Who, by the way, have been posting record profits for how long now? Where is the Justice Department - really???

Does anyone believe big oil is not price fixing?

Think about it - raising gas prices cause immediate and long lasting inflation that will only prolong the recession that nobody wants to admit we are in.

Why not propose a solution to fix the problem indefinitely? Or would campaign funding dwindle to nothing?

Raise the tax on gas ... NOT lower it and maybe more people will buy a smaller car. And the morons in the US car companies will get the hint that gas hogs won't work anymore.

But any increase must have the legislation attached that would prevent CongTHEFT from stealing the funds for their pork barrel projects.

All gas taxes should be used exclusively for building and maintaining roads and bridges and for capital investments in mass transportation systems.

Maybe I could see some money being given to MIT and other like universities for developing new ideas that would get us off the reliance on foreign oil products to fuel our cars and economy.

I could name a dozen ecologically friendly and limitless sources of energy and would start with wind turbines, low dams and an update of the old water wheels. That electricity could be used to power ELECTRIC cars and would not produce any pollutants.

How about your ideas for alternative energy sources!

ALL TAX BREAKS AND SUBSIDIES FOR OIL COMPANIES SHOULD BE REPEALED. If anything the gas tax should be increased to discourage inefficient vehicles.

Discussions like this might be better if folk actually knew some economics. That's perhaps too much to expect, but it would be nice if the journalists could provide some analysis, but I guess that's also too much to expect. And I note that many of the conservatives who defend "market forces" seem to know little about them.

There is reason to believe that a "tax holiday" would not lower the gas pump price much. In classical supply and demand theory, there is a fundamental concept called "elasticity", a measure of how large a change in the quantity supplied or demanded occurs when the price changes. I'll spare you the analysis, and just assert that when the supply is the more elastic -- when a rise in price causes a larger increase in the amount produced than a decrease in the amount buyers are willing to buy -- then the burden of a tax of this sort falls mostly on the buyers. When the demand is more elastic, then a tax of this sort falls mostly on the sellers.

Both the supply and demand of gasoline are rather inelastic -- that's why the prices fluctuate so much. But I think that right now the supply is the less elastic: there's almost no slack in the supply system, but many drivers cut back some as the prices rise. This means the burden of the tax is mostly on sellers (oil companies), not the buyers, so removing the tax will benefit the oil companies more. Most of that 18 cents will end in Exxon's pockets; the pump price will drop, but by much less than half of the 18 cents.

This is assuming a pure market situation -- that the oil companies aren't actually controlling the situation. If they are, doubtless they will benefit all the more.

So, if McCain is sincere in thinking a gasoline tax holiday is good for consumers, then he is quite correct when he says he is weak in economics. Of course, maybe he just WANTS to benefit oil companies. Surely the administration we have now does.

Jumbo Jet: your energies would be better spent trying to get ExxonMobil to relinquish some their $38 billion in profits that they made off of you and lower their prices. I'll bet your local hghway department has a long list of bridges that are in danger of collapsing because years of mismanagement under Republican rule. They won't get fixed if we cut the funds for bridge replacement...

This fits right in with George Bush's "Never pay for anything" schemes. If he had insisted that there be a tax to pay for the war in Iraq, we would have never gone there. Instead, he just borrows money from China and McCain will do the same.

Let's see, 18cents a gallon times 10 gallons a week for gas for my car, equals a whopping $1.80. now lets multiply that times the 12 weeks of no gas tax, hmmm that totals a whopping $21.60. That doesn't even cover the cost of a gallon of milk per week. The only good thing I see out of it is that the theiving washington Pols don't have it in their dirty mitts to spend. Now, let's take a look at how this money used exclusively for transportation projects is doled out. Most recently a large chunk of the total federal allotment went to the crook, (Senator Ted Stevens & his cronies), in Alaska for what is now referred to as the "bridge to nowhere", yet the money went somewhere, just not on any transportation project in Alaska. The next one I recall was a $500 billion dollar transportation budget in w/ over $100billion dollars went to West Virginia....Duh! What? 100 billion dollars for West Virginia? It may have cost some 14+ billion dollars for the big Dig here in Boston, but we actually have something to show for it, & the Massachusetts taxpayer is paying it's fair share of the cost. I may only see a 20 - 30 dollar tax break/savings on gas, but it's not in the hands of the thieves in Washington. BTW, I am a Red Blooded Dem

J.M. is right he does not know much about the economy, how about taking just 1% from the oil companies(all of them) and giving it to each person in the USA that way each man woman and child would become over night millionaires and the roads would be repaired. Ex/Mob would still have 37 billion for itself . Think of the trickle down theory but actually doiing it.

Wall Street, Wall Street, Wall Street!!!
This entire upsurge in gas prices comes at the time of the biggest oil surplus in this country's history. The futures market is driving these high prices even more than the usual corporate greed of "Big Oil".
Nothing is more inflationary, as well as recessionary, than the high cost of energy.
I am amazed that, during a presidential election, NONE of the candidates seem to be taking on these manipulators of the cost of a barrel of crude. Could it be that ALL the candidates are "in the pockets" of these same culprits. Hmmm!!!

The national transportation infastructure is considerably deficient already. Removing the gas tax for even a short amount of time will devistate the aready lacking transportation funds required to improve the infastructure. I can't understand how any could think that this is a viable option considering the example of aging infastructure that was clear with the bridge collapse in Minnisota. the politicians of this country will say anything to gain attemtion. It is dispicable.

I truely do not understand why liberals freak out at the idea of a tax break for the poor and struggling. I love it...I heard a liberal say, "id would only save about $20 a month" Well to some of us, thats worth it. Libs are basically retarded and should all move to Europe where they can socialize with the socialists!

What we need is a way to reduce the the gas price before we all bankrupt. The cost of fuel is a serious drag on our economy. After we keep our economy me from doing a nose dive. Then we dump all of these stupid bridge to nowhere projects and get ourselves of the oil.