Record high crude oil prices has put the federal gas tax in center stage, as McCain and Clinton have proposed a summer holiday of the 18.4 cent federal gas tax. Thomas Friedman blasted the short-sighted proposal, as well as our leader’s failure to create a coherent energy policy.
Calling it a meaningless “quick-fix” solution, Barack Obama argues the real solution lies in alternative fuels and higher fuel efficiency standards.
To that list I’d add increased investment in transit and a higher gas taxes, although I can understand why those proposals may not make it into a television ad in Indiana and North Carolina.
High gas prices don’t just effect consumers, they have resulted in record profits for oil companies. However, according to economic theory we should be doing the exact opposite of what McCain proposes if we want to cut their profits. Economists have found consumers pay roughly half the federal gas tax — the other half comes from the oil companies themselves. This study concludes:
Using the estimated coefficients, we can determine the incidence of federal and state specific taxes. An increase in the federal tax by 1˘ raises the retail price by 0.47˘ and decreases the wholesale price by 0.56˘. Thus, consumers and wholesalers each pay roughly half of the federal specific tax.
In effect, a higher federal gas tax would shift wealth from the oil companies profits to federal coffers, and help pay for badly needed infrastructure improvements.
In an exclusive interview with a New York television station, Senator Barack Obama described congestion pricing as a thoughtful and innovative approach to the problem of congestion. In the interview he described it as a way to reduce congestion, reduce pollution, and invest in infrastructure and mass transit. With an April 7th deadline approaching, New York City appears poised to approve a historic congestion pricing plan. (See Streetsblog for exhaustive congestion pricing coverage.)
I attended Campus Progress’s National Student Conference in 2005, where I heard Bill Clinton give a keynote address on the topic of how progressives can win again. Whatever you think of Clinton, you must concede his knack for electoral victory. The conference took place at a depressing time for many Democrats – Senator John Kerry had just lost the presidential election the previous year and the party seemed weak. Clinton gave a thoughtful, almost philosophical speech, strangely relevant to the party today. (A video and transcript of the speech is available.) Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: July 27th, 2004 | Author:Rob | Filed under:Barack Obama | Comments Off
Barak Obama is addressing the Democratic Convention in Boston. (Text)
ALSO: Viewers with sharp eyes might have caught a glimpse earlier tonight of former College Democrats Chair Jenny Nathan, who is on the floor serving as a page to the Michigan Convention. Also spotted, briefly after Obama’s speech, was former Michigan Daily photographer David Katz.
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