REHOBOTH BEACH, Del. — President Joe Biden stated Monday that he is contemplating a federal vacation on the gasoline tax, presumably saving U.S. customers as a lot as 18.4 cents a gallon.
“Sure, I’m contemplating it,” Biden advised reporters after taking a stroll alongside the seaside. “I hope to have a call primarily based on the info — I’m searching for by the tip of the week.”
The administration is more and more searching for methods to spare the general public from greater costs on the pump, which started to climb final yr and surged after Russia invaded Ukraine in February. Gasoline costs nationwide are averaging slightly below $5 a gallon, based on AAA.
The Biden administration has already launched oil from the U.S. strategic reserve and elevated ethanol mixing for the summer time, in extra to sending a letter final week to grease refiners urging them to extend their refining capability. But these efforts have but to scale back value pressures meaningfully, such that the administration is now contemplating a fuel tax vacation. Taxes on gasoline and diesel gas assist to pay for highways.
The Penn Wharton Price range Mannequin launched estimates Wednesday displaying that customers saved on the pump due to fuel tax holidays in Connecticut, Georgia and Maryland. Nearly all of the financial savings went to customers, as a substitute of service stations and others within the vitality sector.
In an interview Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen expressed an openness to a federal fuel tax vacation to present motorists some aid.
