Posted on 04/27/2006 6:37:31 AM PDT by HOTTIEBOY
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Every American taxpayer would get a $100 rebate check to offset the pain of higher pump prices for gasoline, under an amendment Senate Republicans hope to bring to a vote Thursday.
However, the GOP energy package may face tough sledding because it also includes a controversial proposal to open part of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to oil exploration, which most Democrats and some moderate Republicans oppose.
Democrats are also expected to offer their own competing proposal, as members of both parties jockey for political position on the gas price issue.
The energy package, sponsored by Sens. Charles Grassley of Iowa, Ted Stevens of Alaska, Pete Domenici of New Mexico and Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, will be offered as an amendment to an emergency spending measure now before the Senate funding the Iraq war and hurricane relief, according to a senior GOP leadership aide.
Under Senate rules, either the GOP amendment or the Democratic alternative would probably need 60 votes to pass, which is considered unlikely. However, the amendments would give senators a change to cast votes on measures designed to help constituents being hit by high gas prices.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Right! Free money!
If a rebate check comes in the mail, I don't care what its for, I will cash it.
How many of you will send your check back?
Like tax rebates to poor people who don't pay taxes in the first place?
Amazing how states can have Tax-Free days for shopping but never a Tax-Free day for gasoline.
People would see how much a gallon of gas really is and get really pissed, really fast and for a really long time.
Want to see politicians work up a real sweat? Just demand a Tax-Free gasoline day and watch them run for cover.
Imagine gas in Connecticut for 60 cents less per gallon on one day and then back up the next!
This is really to all:
If they cut taxes on gas, the surge in demand will only bring up the price that much more.
Simple economics.
I don't think they thought that far ahead
Yeah, here in NM, we got rebate checks last fall. It was the state that got the windfall as their tax take is based on percentage of cost of gas. Even saw that explained in some of the local media.
State sent the rebates out - they didn't try to get the oil companies to do it.
$100 would get me through a week and a half going to and from work. Why don't they just get rid of the tax for starters.
Pandering Morons Alert.
Rebate checks = political payoffs. Rather than go through the administrative red tape, why not just have a moratorium for two or three months on the federal tax on gasoline.
Yes, he is, and our only alternative is a career political hack Democrat. As far as I'm concerned it doesn't make a damn bit of difference which one gets elected.
poverty level wages? At least a lot of them have to drive to get to their work, so they are paying more for gas. The real dig is that they will want to give the checks to commuters in big cities where mass transit funded in large part by the rest of the "flyover" states makes driving a car rare.
The rebellion on the Lexington Green in Massachusetts was for a tax issue. One that was far less in size and scope than today. And we have been simmering in the pot for so long now we do not even suspect that we are frogs slowing being brought to a comfortable death by boiling in taxation.
Why do I say this?? Because liars and losers who are in high places of government think that buying us off with OUR OWN MONEY will squelch the cries of ignorance against capitalism.
Because:
Drop the tax, the price goes down.
Low prices equals more consumption\demand.
More demand equals bottlenecks in supply = higher gas prices.
$100 cash money will be spent across the whole economy without a change in gas consumption.
This is nothing more than a vote buying scheme.
If these any of these guys were thinking of a run for POTUS in '08, they just removed themselves from my consideration.
Jeez, and I thought my own Senator "Limp" Frist was bad.....
Just take all the state and federal taxes off gasoline and don't insult our intelligence by offering a moronic $100 rebate. I truly believe there are no brain cells working in Washington, D.C. All in our Congress have completely lost their minds. God help us all.
I thought the objective of this ridiculous exercise was to soften the cost of high gasoline prices for the consumer, not to affect consumption. This assumes that the average consumer will not increase his/her mileage because the price is 18 cents cheaper.
Well, if you buy gas, you're paying taxes. I suppose you don't want those people to get checks if they don't make enough to pay income tax?
Or are you referring to people that don't buy gas? More power to them, I say. If you ride the bus to work each day, you're doing more to cut down our dependency on oil than just about any of us here who drive our cars to work (personally, I'm waiting for the bike trail to be finished that will run almost from door to door so I can ride in the summer - until then, I drive my car)....
I've long advocated the idea of charging more in gas taxes with a rebate like this becoming permanent and the $ value scaled so that out=in.
So, for example, you have an average mpg rating on your car of 25 mpg. You drive an average 12k miles per year, and buy 480 gallons per year. Charge an extra $2 in tax to pay for the rebate, and you'll spend $960 more at the pump. But at the end of the year, everyone gets a rebate of the average amount, which would be near $960. No big deal, you just adjust witholding tables and the only difference you really see is that hurt you feel when you fill up. It doesn't actually cost you more, but you're inclined to go for a higher mpg rating or cut back on usage.
Say you get a Corolla, though, and average 37 mpg. Then you pay $648, but still get the average rebate of $960. So your gas costs actually DROP. In fact, at $3 per gallon, your costs drop enough that you're effectively paying $2 per gallon.
But what if you go out and buy an 11 mpg dually? You pay $2181 and get the $960 rebate, so your costs go up $1200, and you're effectively paying $1.10 more per gallon.
Its an idea thats painful, but there needs to be an incentive to get people to change behavior if we're going to cut our energy dependency.
I wish the GOP would stop trying to buy my vote and actually do something positive for a change...
I hate high gas prices, but perhaps these prices are needed to force a change in our behavior that would help wean us from foreign oil. The sad fact is that even at nearly $3 per gallon, we're still not cutting back usage...
"Are they also going to give a check to people who don't own cars?"
Why not? If they're of driving age and choose to walk, bike, or ride the bus to work, they're the ones actually conserving gas and energy.
Since some of my income comes from oil would they not be subsidizing the stuff?
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