US Gas Tax Holiday; is it necessary

[Majestic-milf]

 With the UK battling with high inflation rates caused as a result of high consumption of food, energy and gas, Biden is looking at playing Santa as he has decided to let off the federal taxes placed on gas due to a reason he believes has been an economic strain on the masses and feels doing this could help put him in a positive light by US citizens.
 The prices of oil seem to have reached an all time high in 14 years,  and while this move is commendable, it may not benefit consumers much, for the tax placed on gasoline is 18 cents per gallon and 24 cents for diesel, Economists see this as an unnecessary effort because it could bring about a waste to their public funds. Is this move fuelled by a desire to gain favors in the election or is he truely wasting public funds? https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/22/business/dealbook/biden-gas-tax-holiday.html
 

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[The Sceptical Chymist]

Is this move fuelled by a desire to gain favors in the election or is he truely wasting public funds?

Can't read Biden's mind, but when you're asking a question like that about a politician, cynical ol' me would tell you that you'd be crazy not to think optics didn't play a part in making such a decision.  But with gas at $5/gallon and inflation hitting everyone (including those who don't even drive), I think any sitting president would probably have at least considered a gas tax holiday whether they were in their first or second terms.

And wasting public funds?  Eh, Americans are taxed to death already, and there's so much bloat in the federal government that lifting the gas tax temporarily shouldn't hurt anything for very long.  Plus the Fed can just crank up the money printer if they need to and create more money out of thin air if they need to.  Of course, that'll lead to more inflation but nobody seemed to care before we got into this mess, right?  Riiiight.

[Gyfts]

With the UK battling with high inflation rates caused as a result of high consumption of food, energy and gas, Biden is looking at playing Santa as he has decided to let off the federal taxes placed on gas due to a reason he believes has been an economic strain on the masses and feels doing this could help put him in a positive light by US citizens.
 The prices of oil seem to have reached an all time high in 14 years,  and while this move is commendable, it may not benefit consumers much, for the tax placed on gasoline is 18 cents per gallon and 24 cents for diesel, Economists see this as an unnecessary effort because it could bring about a waste to their public funds. Is this move fuelled by a desire to gain favors in the election or is he truely wasting public funds? https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/22/business/dealbook/biden-gas-tax-holiday.html
 

Perfect time for a gas tax holiday for the Biden administration. He's got elections for his congress coming up and it's looking like his party is going to lose their majority in the house and possibly the senate. The federal gas tax holiday does not stop his anti-oil policy stances.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/biden-alaska-oil-gas-lease-sale-canceled/

He's continuing to cancel drilling leases and his suggestion to people that can't afford fuel that they switch to an electric vehicle. U.S. citizens aren't going to take him up on that advice. 100% increase on fuel relative to 2020 prices are not remedied by a minor tax break.

What's interesting is that Germany has elected to go back to coal due to limited Russian energy supplies being imported to them. Yet Biden's plan to combat the war is go further in the direction of green energy contemporaneous with his efforts limiting gas and oil.

[jackg]

Is this move fuelled by a desire to gain favors in the election or is he truely wasting public funds?

Can't read Biden's mind, but when you're asking a question like that about a politician, cynical ol' me would tell you that you'd be crazy not to think optics didn't play a part in making such a decision. 

The US seem far from a recession though, I don't think 18 cents/gallon (~4%) is actually going to be that noticeable. The UK government reduced taxes on petrol (gas) by 5% and have since started investigating whether forecourts (gas stations?) have actually been passing on the saving or not (I guess that's going to be hard to track though too).


If they're cutting the entire rate, I don't think it'll affect much on a federal level. But areas like california with their high fuel tax levies (if those are still in force) are probably going to notice this even less too.

[Fortify]

With the UK battling with high inflation rates caused as a result of high consumption of food, energy and gas, Biden is looking at playing Santa as he has decided to let off the federal taxes placed on gas due to a reason he believes has been an economic strain on the masses and feels doing this could help put him in a positive light by US citizens.
 The prices of oil seem to have reached an all time high in 14 years,  and while this move is commendable, it may not benefit consumers much, for the tax placed on gasoline is 18 cents per gallon and 24 cents for diesel, Economists see this as an unnecessary effort because it could bring about a waste to their public funds. Is this move fuelled by a desire to gain favors in the election or is he truely wasting public funds? https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/22/business/dealbook/biden-gas-tax-holiday.html
 

People moan when prices of petrol go up, people moan when Biden tries to bring the price of petrol back down, there is simply no pleasing some. We are in rather extraordinary times, having just gotten out of the first global pandemic for about a century and now we're seeing the first large scale war between two large countries in Europe since the end of World War 2. Frankly, I like a President who stays rather quiet and just gets on with trying to balance issues behind the scenes, instead of a rowdy moron just trying to get in tomorrow's tabloid newspaper by spouting something more idiotic than the day before. At the rate that fuel prices are rising this is going to be rather insignificant in the long run, maybe further action needs to be taken to reign in the huge profits that the oil companies are squeezing out of consumers through unchecked greed.

[Hydrogen]

the tax placed on gasoline is 18 cents per gallon and 24 cents for diesel,

That only represents federal gas tax rates.

There is also a state gas tax.

How High are Gas Taxes in Your State?

July 28, 2021



https://i.imgur.com/xurkh4R.jpg

California pumps out the highest state gas tax rate of 66.98 cents per gallon, followed by Illinois (59.56 cpg), Pennsylvania (58.7 cpg), and New Jersey (50.7 cpg). The lowest state gas tax rates can be found in Alaska at 14.98 cents per gallon, followed by Missouri (17.42 cpg) and Mississippi (18.79 cpg).

https://taxfoundation.org/state-gas-tax-rates-2021/

Perhaps Biden cutting the federal gas tax rate will encourage individual states to follow a similar approach with state level gas taxes.

Tax cuts are an extremely rare event to say the least. Once taxes are levied they are almost never cut. It is an extremely generous and rare event for Biden to do this.