You think the headline is confusing? It is actually quite accurate. She wants to eliminate the gas tax paid by consumers and replace it with one paid by wholesalers. But the consumers wouldn't have to pay that? Really?
The chairwoman of the Senate committee that oversees infrastructure projects said on Wednesday that the federal government should replace its 18.4 cents per gallon tax on gasoline purchases with a fee that is paid by oil wholesalers.
Getting rid of the federal gas tax in lieu of a wholesale oil tax increase would help close an approximately $20 billion shortfall in transportation spending Congress is looking to solve, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) said.
The present gas tax raises about $35 billion, but is $20 B short. So we are really talking about a 57% gas tax increase cloaked in the sheep's clothing of a tax cut. Surprised?
"There are many ideas out there, and the one that I'm leaning toward myself, although this is going to be a decision of the [Senate] Finance Committee ... is to do away with the per-gallon fee at the pump and replace it with this sales fee as they've done in Virginia and Maryland," Boxer said during a hearing of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. |