The tax break on 6000 lb GWV right before a huge surge in gas prices, coincidence or planned?
403459
They added a wheel tax back in my State, so there really isn't a tax break. I live in Indiana, and we have a Republican Governor now Mitch Daniels (crook), and Bush plant to the State. He got in on the President ticket. He just sold the 80/90 toll road to a Australian/Spanish Company that we already have paid for. So he too, is selling America. The road runs across the top of the State to the Chicago Sky-Way. Truckers are really hit.
1041619
Yes, but w/good reason.  Gas prices have never been this high w/no relief in sight.  It seems we are limiting our travel b/c we just can't afford to drive in this country.  I know I'm on a gas budget.  Work-home-work-home, maybe a chill spot on the wknd, but that's it.
322862
Gas taxes provide the majority of the road upkeep in the country, which is underfunded as it is. How exactly would that help? Also, $.30 per gallon is not going to affect gas prices all that much. They will continue to go up, no matter what.
412715
Yes.  This was a campaign point for W in his first election - double taxation of dividends.  The company pays its taxes and distributes the left over, then the investor has to pay taxes on those earnings.  Bush wanted to get rid of that, but the Dems threw in the whole "tax breaks for the rich" and it didn't go through.
445516
As of yesterday it jumped 13 cents in 24 hours making it 2.69 in Florida, it makes me sick because they are just playing with us, there is no legitimate reason for these prices. The worst part of it is they say it will reach 3.50 per gallon by this summer and when that happens I will have to quit my job because it will cost me 35.00 a week just to drive to and from work, no place else just to and from work.I work part time just for extra spending cash ,my husbands job supports the household , so what's the point in my keeping the job, can't afford the gas to go any where and spend it.
491113
There is none, if inflation had followed suit with everything else clothes, food, building supplies etc.It would be over 3 dollars a gallon.The problem is people actually give idiots like micheal moore and al fraken credibility, its uncanny!!!!They have both been proven to be liars.One of the biggest reasons gas prices increase is simply speculative theory!! we went to war for humanitarian reasons, those people want us there they were under dictatorship. clinton sent soliders into Bosnia in 98 and knowone had a problem with that, it was for humanitarian reasons or so we thought.The real problem a lot of people have with this is the time its taking but you cant put a time frame on something like this.
342689
its a joke. they should have portest for the high gas prices. shell and the others are having record 30 billion + profits.
850775
they already started to go up, ON ELECTION DAY.  opec must be sick with the election outcomes.  i hope the investigate 4.00 a gallon last year, i hope nobody forgot
502628
Not that I am for this--But dear it wouldn't matter and why you ask---well here is an article--this is starting to open up a new can of worms--please understand--Anyone in the world could have all the oil in the world..and it really wouldn't matter at this point...\n\n$3-a-gallon gas: Blame Washington, not Big Oil\nWhat's driving up gas prices? It's not just higher crude costs; it's new regulations.\nNelson D. Schwartz\nMay 3, 2006: 2:20 PM EDT\n\n\n(FORTUNE Magazine) - With gas prices roaring past $3 a gallon and consumer fury rising even faster, Congress and the White House are engaged in a Kabuki-like ritual: pointing fingers at each other over who's to blame, while furiously attacking Big Oil for reaping gargantuan profits - as drivers get hosed at the pump.\n\nIf the politicians really want to figure out who's responsible for the latest round of price increases, though, they'd be better off looking in the mirror. That's because the rise isn't only due to higher crude costs. It's also fallout from some little-noticed provisions in the energy bill passed by Congress and signed into law by President Bush last summer.\n\nBuried in the 551-page energy bill - which was supposed to ease energy shortages, not worsen them - were new regulations governing what additives go into gasoline and how it's refined. Corn-based ethanol is replacing the petroleum-derived additive MTBE, but Congress timed this logistically tricky switchover to occur just as demand for gasoline peaked ahead of the summer driving season - right about now.\n\nThe end result is an extra strain on the refining and distribution system when it can least afford it.\n\n"It's too late now, but Congress has consistently failed to sequence regulatory requirements in a responsible fashion," says Bob Slaughter, president of the National Petrochemical & Refiners Association.\n\nAdds Larry Goldstein of the Petroleum Industry Research Foundation: "The gasoline crisis is made in the U.S.A., not in Iran or Venezuela or Nigeria. At least half the increase in gasoline prices is due to unintended consequences of the energy bill, but no one in Washington wants to admit that."\n\nIndeed, while crude prices have risen 21% since the end of 2005, gasoline is up 37% - a sign of just how stretched the system is. Congress's mistake, says Goldstein, was setting the new law to go into effect 270 days after it was signed - May 5 - rather than waiting until fall, when gas demand is typically on the downswing.\n\nNow the big question is, How high can gas go? Well, perhaps the only good thing that can be said about paying three bucks per gallon is that it seems to be slowing consumption - which should, in turn, reduce prices. Over a four-week period in April, says oil analyst Jamal Qureshi of consulting firm PFC Energy, U.S. gasoline demand dropped by half a percent, to just over nine million barrels a day. That may not sound like much, but it's a reversal from the 1.7% average annual increase in gas consumption the U.S. has experienced over the past decade. If $3 is indeed the tipping point at which consumers change their behavior and alter their driving habits, it's the one silver lining in an otherwise very dark cloud for drivers.\n\nThe wildcard in this scenario, of course, is the increasing risk of a military confrontation with Iran. If that happens, says Qureshi, "all bets are off." Given that crude oil accounts for 55% of the cost of each gallon of gas (refining accounts for 22%, taxes for 19%, and distribution and marketing for 4%), an upward spike in crude oil would push gas up even if the bottlenecks caused by the energy bill ease this summer.\n\nThat's why Red Cavaney, president of the American Petroleum Institute, says the answer in the short term is conservation. Washington is indeed being turned upside down when it's left to Cavaney, Big Oil's chief lobbyist, to talk conservat
589468
id say keep them money will come...  I'm in Louisville KY- by the end of this summer it will be almost $5 a gallon- its already $2.85+  don't loose it. we still have a untapped source in Alaska.  you know as well as i do that our politicians wont tap it until the rest of the world is dry.  then when they finally do it will be ridiculous. you will be rich.
1173170
Why do you think the gas prices suddenly went sky high?  There is NO shortage....no lines, plenty  of gas....but they get MORE TAXES with higher gas prices.   Government's answer to paying for war.
714627
I don't think so. Although gas has gone up since the election. I think the prices were down before the elections to help the republicans hold there power, that way the republicans can help them. I look for gas to steadily increase so at the next elections the republicans can blame it on the Dems. The stock market is controlled by the big corp. They won't let it go down on purpose. The hard part will be trying to keep the C.E.O.s hands off the employees pension funds. Luckily my pension is funded through my union and the gov. watches unions like a hawk. They don't seem to watch company pension plans very close.
412541
I didn't know that, but on the Today show this morning they said a gallon of gas in Iraq is 35 cents and 12 cents in Venezuela!  We're getting ripped!
467272
I think tax is usually about 33% to the gas price in the USA.\nHeard that in Japan, where it's equivalent over $5 a gallon (this was back in 2000, where our prices were low $1.xx range), that tax accounts for over 80%.
450534
Total Cost of Tax Break: $76.5 billion from 2005-2014\n\nIn this provision, America’s largest energy companies—among the most profitable in the U.S. economy—would succeed in reclassifying energy production as a manufactured good in order to qualify for potentially tens of billions of dollars in new tax deductions. The manufacturing tax deduction has previously only been available to traditional manufacturing industries. The amount of the tax deduction is 3% of a company’s production income in 2005 and 2006; rising to 6% in 2007-2009, and 9% after 2009.\n\nThe total cost of this tax deduction, $76.5 billion from 2005-2014, includes the value of the tax deduction for energy companies and other industries, including movie studios, real estate developers and engineering and architectural services associated with real estate development. It is a safe assumption that energy companies—due to their size within the U.S. economy—will be the largest recipient.\n\nSince 2001, electric power, natural gas and oil corporations have contributed $73 million to federal candidates, with three-quarters of that total going to Republicans. Halliburton is the largest oil field services provider and provides services to Chevron. Bush Sr. was a director of Halliburton. Dick Cheney was Halliburton's CEO. Chevron is the #1 importer of Iraqi oil. Members of the Bush administration planned to oust Saddam and establish control in Iraq since long before the Iraq war. Bush started a war in Iraq. War brings profit to defense contractors. Bush Sr is a director of one of the world's largest defense contractors.    See the circle of greed and profit? These facts show there is a serious conflict of interest with the relationships between the Bush family, the Bush Administration, ChevronTexaco, Halliburton, the Carlyle Group and members of PNAC. The Bush family and friends have been profiting from war and will continue to profit greatly through continued services contracts in Iraq and the controlled flow of Iraqi oil.
806984
I believe the Bush administration Is the cause for the increase in gas prices. Do you remember when the Vice President had a secret meeting with the oil big wigs? This meeting was so hush-hush the president went to the supreme court to have the minutes sealed. soon after gas prices went through the roof. The Bush started the war in Iran. We had Gulf coast storms. There were a lot of factors but mainly it is greed by the oil companies. Oil companies will site market conditions as the reason for gas prices increasing. What they wont tell you is that they caused those conditions. ask them why did they close oil refineries down in Calif. and not build new ones?
85279
No, not right now.  Natural gas prices have almost doubled this winter season.