It’s $100 Owed Next April…

From CNN:

“Our plan would give taxpayers a hundred dollar gas tax holiday rebate check to help ease the pain that they’re feeling at the pump,” Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist announced Thursday.

Frist said the rebates would go to single taxpayers making less than $125,000 per year, and couples making less than $150,000.

Republican senators said they hoped soaring gas prices would inspire Democrats to support their proposals.

Free money, we’re just handing this shit out, no strings attached… come and get it. WOOO! Oh wait, you mean this is just another government rebate scam like that $300 thing Bush plopped out of his ass back in 2001?

Bread and circuses people… bread and circuses.

Update: Loved this comment at Hit & Run:

Or they could cut the federal gas tax.

BTW, it’s 18.4 cents per gallon. (state/fed tax table)

Another Update: Hold the phone, the LP actually said the same thing!

If Senate Republicans and Democrats want to provide immediate relief to consumers the first step should be the repeal of the federal excise tax on gasoline. The money saved by consumers would be more than the $100 refund.

posted Apr 28th, 2006 by Stephen VanDyke · This entry was posted in self. Bookmark the permalink.
  • Rick Rajter

    Exactly. People are too stupid to realize that they are paying a shit load of government employees a lot of money just to hand them back 100 dollars… not realizing that it probably took 200 of their tax dollars to get that 100 back.

    Plus, 100 bucks is like 2 tanks of gas for some of the larger vehicles… whoopee!

  • http://blog.joseph-a-nagy-jr.us Joseph A Nagy Jr

    I heard the that the Fed gas tax was more like 42.3 cents a gallon. Sources?

  • vforvandyke

    Joseph… added a link next to it… sorry.

  • http://blog.joseph-a-nagy-jr.us Joseph A Nagy Jr

    Thanks. Its not that I’m lazy, just I’ve heard conflicting rates and would like for ONE source to cite their source. Thanks Stephen.

  • http://blog.joseph-a-nagy-jr.us Joseph A Nagy Jr

    BTW, fixing to hit HoT in about two hours with a bunch of trackbacks. I’m making a monumental entry into my own blog which covers stories from over 20 different sources.

  • j

    The average total tax across the country from Federal, state, and local taxes is 46 cents per gallon.

  • http://truthintech.net Erik

    Whoooopeee I can get like 3 more tanks on this! And I have a tiny little toyota. Just eliminate the gas tax for cryin out loud.

  • ianbernard

    Cut the federal gas tax??!?

    BUT WHAT ABOUT THE ROADS!?!?

    (sarcasm)

  • bac

    If paying for votes worked for Bush, why not for Bill Frist? But Bush bought votes for $300 with the tax breaks, Frist is doing this on the cheap. Hopefully, a democrat will come out with a plan to purchase votes for $300 or greater with a gas tax rebate.

    If the democrats want a sure win for the next President, they should offer a $1000 tax rebate for the votes.

    People love voting to give themselves money.

  • michelleshinghal

    People should not be penalized for earning more than $150K a year and that is what the $100 rebate does. Talk about discrimination. Do they think it stops hurting at the pump at $149999.99? They should do us all a favor and get their hands out of our pockets. At 18.4 cents per gallon savings, I could pocket about $600 in a year.

  • http://ilovephysics.com Chris Moore

    A Democratic senator has proposed suspending the federal gas tax for at least 2 months.

    http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Democrats_to_propose_cutting_gas_tax_0425.html

    A democrat is actually making more fiscal sense than a republican. Go figure. Elections do strange things to people.

  • http://ilovephysics.com Chris Moore

    Of course, they’re going to make up the dough by getting rid of tax breaks for oil companies, which will probably just prompt oil companies to raise prices. But getting corporations off the dole and eliminating taxes (even if for a short while) is a pretty good start.

  • http://www.wrightwing.net tomWright

    The federal diesel tax is 24.3 cents pergallon, which helps explain why it is so pricey. Most states seem to tax it higher as well.

    http://www.eia.doe.gov/pub/oil_gas/petroleum/analysis_publications/oil_market_basics/Price_taxes.htm

  • http://www.wrightwing.net tomWright

    yup, per the chart you posted, 25 states tax diesel higher than gas,9 states tax gas more, the rest tax them equally.

    Here in NJ diesel runs 25-40 cents a gallon more than regular gas, usually higher than premium gas.

    3 cents extra state tax plus 5.9 federal explains 8.9 cents of that, and would bring diesel down to, or below preium prices.

  • Sandra Kallander

    Why don’t they just wait? Even though we don’t have capitalism, capitalism is like the laws of physics, and it is a force in our economy.

    Meanwhile, I walk to work every day and only drive on the weekends so my tires don’t get flat spots. Trying to do my part to reduce demand. Plus, they don’t get any tax if you don’t buy the product. ;)

    Did you ever stop to think that high gas prices are a tax windfall for the Feds, state, etc.?

    How long did the last price-spike last? By all means, lets debate the issue and educate a few people. If we can keep them stirred up long enough, maybe it will have time to correct.

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  • Mike R

    I don’t mind the rebate, since it really is a partial return on the windfall tax on the windfall profits. When companies are prosperous, so is the government.

    Since it really is too much to ask that the government spend less, I’d rather have that $100 in my pocket than have it go to another program or expansion.

    A real permanent fix would be to lower the tax to a more reasonable level, something between zero and 5 cents.

    That would generate (15 million barrels/day) X (42 gallons/barrel) X 365 days/year X .05 = 11 billion per year, federal money only.

    At 46 cents average, over 101 billion is collected a year for federal state and local. That is a huge amount of money to maintain and build roads, if that is what the money really goes to.

  • http://blog.joseph-a-nagy-jr.us Joseph A Nagy Jr

    I want to apologize to HoT in advance for any trackback spam. I had a huge problem with my blog.

  • http://www.tom-hanna.org Tom Hanna

    I’m with Milton Friedman and the real libertarians on this one:

    I am favor of cutting taxes under any circumstances and for any excuse, for any reason, whenever it’s possible.

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