As oil prices plummeted & our gasoline costs followed suit, the list of producer countries around the world digging deep in their balance sheets grew long, and they overwhelmingly opted to remove fuel subsidies. While here in the US, we ignored that our infrastructure was falling apart and would not talk about the Federal Gasoline Tax (that is unit based) and how it has not been adjusted in decades.
Is this proposal by the Obama Administration how to get around our collective unwillingness to discuss our insufficient “gas tax“?
Obama $10-Per-Barrel Oil Tax Seen Landing With Thud in Congress
“President Barack Obama will propose a $10 per barrel tax on oil in his fiscal 2017 budget plan, an idea likely to receive a chilly reception in the Republican-controlled Congress that oversees spending.
With the proceeds targeted to transportation and climate initiatives, the proposal seems designed to deepen Obama’s environmental credentials and signify his ambitions to aggressively push action on climate change during his final year in office.
“By placing a fee on oil, the president’s plan creates a clear incentive for private sector innovation to reduce our reliance on oil and at the same time invests in clean energy technologies that will power our future,” the White House said Thursday in a statement.
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[Originally published on LinkedIn Pulse on 4 February 2016 under the same title.]
Hans Hyde 