Joe Manchin signals he won't support Biden's call for a gas tax holiday

[Nevilledog]

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Rachel Scott
@rachelvscott
·
Jun 22, 2022
NEW: Democrat Joe Manchin signals he won't support Biden's call for a gas tax holiday

He told he has several concerns.

"I'm not a yes right now, that's for sure," Manchin said, just hours before Biden was set to speak Wednesday afternoon.

On @ABC -

abcnews.go.com
Democrat Joe Manchin signals he won't support Biden's call for a gas tax holiday
The West Virginia senator spoke exclusively with ABC News Congressional Correspondent Rachel Scott.

Rachel Scott
@rachelvscott
·
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“Now, to do that and put another hole into the budget is something that is very concerning to me & people need to understand that 18 cents is not going to be straight across the board -- it never has been that you'll see in 18 cents exactly penny-for-penny come off of that price”
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10:26 AM · Jun 22, 2022

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/democrat-joe-manchin-signals-support-bidens-call-gas/story?id=85558791


President Joe Biden's calls for Congress to pass a gas tax holiday were being met with skepticism Wednesday from both sides of the aisle.

In an exclusive interview with ABC News, Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia said he had several concerns with the proposal and signaled he would not support it.

"I'm not a yes right now, that's for sure," Manchin said, just hours before Biden was set to speak Wednesday afternoon.

For the last 25 years, all revenue from the federal gas tax has gone to the Highway Trust Fund, the major source of federal funding for highways, roads and bridges. Manchin noted Congress put an additional $118 billion into the fund when it passed the bipartisan infrastructure package.

*snip*

[CentralMass]

1. No suprize from Joe I'm in this for myself" Manchin.

[Zambero]

2. Ever heard of a modest wealth tax, Joe?

Your WV constituents didn't gain much from TFG's sweetheart billionaire tax cuts. Would you wish to return a portion of those ill-gotten gains in order to help out the folks back home? What?? No??? No big surprise there, Joe!

[Itchinjim]

3. Fuck Manchin.

[onecaliberal]

4. Senator from ExonMobile said what?

[Zeitghost]

37. Ummmm...

Do you think ExxonMobile wants gas taxes? I think you might have that backwards. If Manchin was looking out for big oil, he would 100% be behind a tax holiday on fuel.

[onecaliberal]

40. Manchin IS owned by oil companies. Look at his public disclosures:

[Zeitghost]

41. That may be

But him not supporting a gas tax holiday is directly opposed to their interests.

[doc03]

5. Suspending the gas tax in not a good idea IMO. nt

[ruet]

9. Agree But;...

is he wrong about not seeing the benefit 1:1. Isn't gas taxed at the pump?

[Probatim]

15. He's just a dick plus he realizes his voters will be upset if a POC gets something for free.

[doc03]

16. What about infrastructure? Gas tax pays for roads.

It may be good politicly today. But later when it goes back
on that will be old news, it will be Biden raised the gas tax. Besides that how would that help Joe Manchin. Joe Manchin isn't wrong about everything. His reason for not supporting the infrastructure plan was the spending would cause inflation. Looking back I think he was right.

[AZProgressive]

21. BBB was a slow injection over a long term time period

It wouldn’t have an effect on inflation and this is according to economists. It would have also helped with costs such as prescription drugs and people need costs lowered to deal with inflation.

[doc03]

25. I have heard economists say all the COVID stimulous

money fueled the current inflation. I got $3200 stimulus money I didn't need. I actually saved money during the COVID lock down no place to spend it.

[BlueCheeseAgain]

28. I guess I heard some economists say it helped fuel inflation.

But if it were that big a factor, inflation in the US would be much higher than the rest of the world. That the rest of the world has high inflation too suggests to me that it wasn't a huge factor.

Having said all that, I wonder now if we had to choose between BBB and the American Rescue Plan, which would have been better? Maybe the structural changes in BBB (paid parental leave, etc), would have been more worthwhile, given that it turns out the economy was already close to overheating already.

[BlueCheeseAgain]

22. My econ class was a long time ago...

But I think he's generally right. The amount of a tax that is paid by the producer vs the consumer depends a lot on how rigid the demand is.

For example, suppose we're talking about a luxury item for which people can take it or leave it. If you raise the price too much, people will completely stop buying it. Then a tax will be mostly paid by the producer-- they have to keep the final price in a range that's still acceptable to the consumer.

On the other hand, if you're talking about something for which demand is rigid, and people tend to have to buy a lot of it no matter what-- then the tax is mostly paid by the consumer.

I'm guessing gas is more like the latter than the former. If you remove the federal gas tax from the final price, the oil companies might say-- you know what, we'll just raise the price and keep what used to be the tax for ourselves.

[ruet]

26. I Agree.

I'm talking strictly about the mechanics of where the tax is actually collected. I have no doubt that if the tax was paused today the price of gas would rise, proportionally, tomorrow.

[BlueCheeseAgain]

27. Ah, I see.

I think you're right in that it's collected at the pump.

[ruet]

29. That's Where I See Manchin As Fudging It.

Mechanically, it is a 1:1 reduction at the pump. He's, purposely, leaving Big Oils opportunism out of his explanation.

[Zeitghost]

38. The cost of any tax

And conversely the benefit of any tax reduction, is split between the producer and the consumer. The proportions of the split are determined by the relative price elasticity of the product being taxed. With something like gas that is inelastic demand curve, most is going to go to the consumer, but not all of it.

[BlueCheeseAgain]

23. I tend to agree.

The oil companies will probably raise prices to eat up some of the savings anyway, and we'll end up in a worse situation than before. Similar price, and the oil companies getting all of the money.

[ruet]

31. And When The Holiday Ends?

Surprise, gas just went up another 18 cents. It's bad policy and even worse politics. ...IMO.

[Beachnutt]

6. I sure hope we can gain enough seats

in the senate to make some senators irrelevant....

[tritsofme]

7. Tom Carper opposes it too, for similar reason, does he get the pitchfork treatment too?

[BlueTsunami2018]

12. Is Carper against nearly EVERYTHING this party wants?

No, he won’t get pitchforked. Nor should he. I’m opposed to this myself.

[tritsofme]

14. The histrionics on this thread are clearly uncalled for.

I also didn’t realize Manchin was against “nearly everything” the party wants, mostly because it is not true.

[BlueTsunami2018]

35. Isn't it?

The President can’t the major parts of his platform passed because of Manchin and the other goof from Arizona.

3B is dead because of him.
Voting rights, dead.
The Roe v. Wade codification, dead.

He doesn’t appear to be for much of anything we want.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

8. He's...not wrong. There's no way to guarantee the tax cut would get passed on to consumers, it stops

revenue coming in and then will be politically damaging to restart again.

[wryter2000]

19. I agree totally

Even if it did lower gas prices (not guaranteed), the prices would go up again in September.

Still, it would be nice not to have to listen to Manchin's opinion on virtually everything.

[SheltieLover]

10. I wonder how his constituents feel about this position, if they are even paying attention.

[brush]

11. Why is he always acting like a republican?

Last edited Wed Jun 22, 2022, 07:51 PM - Edit history (1)

[Zeitghost]

39. Refusing to cut taxes

Is a Republican ideal now?


Manchin has some people here so triggered, they're up in arms when he's acting like a liberal.

[brush]

42. Because he acts like a republican on the big Biden agenda items.

[maxsolomon]

13. His concern for the Deficit is duly noted.

18 cents/gallon is less than $4 out of a $100 fill up. Whoop de freaking doo.

Only thing that will lower the cost is an end to the war in Ukraine. No one can make that happen except one megalomaniac - the wealthiest man on earth.

[brush]

43. It's the perception that matters. Voters will see that Biden is trying...

what he can to reduce the pain at the pump. Manchin can't even help him out with this gesture.

[maxsolomon]

46. No, but maybe some Repukes can.

I'm not holding my breath.

[lame54]

17. Senator Roadblock

[spanone]

18. Joe is only asking for a 3 month suspension.

[BlueCheeseAgain]

24. Politically, isn't that really bad timing?

Do we really want a gas tax holiday expiring a month before the election?

[MichMan]

36. Why couldn't it just keep getting extended like the student loan moratorium?

until the midterms are over?

[UTUSN]

20. HAH - what will it take for his Poor constituents to get rid of him? What does HE "give" them?!

Somebody here said that his power is control of the state party.

[Vinca]

30. Guess I'm agreeing with Manchin this time around, but probably for different reasons. For

starters, the amount of savings from a federal tax suspension is pretty minimal. It's usually the state taxes that are higher. Secondly, you can't assure gas station owners won't pocket the money. Finally, it's for 3 months and ends just before the November elections. Gas prices hopping back up a couple of weeks before that is not a good thing. I would be more interested in having oil company CEOs come before Congress and explain their overwhelming profits in the midst of the price hikes. Very stinky indeed.

[brush]

50. It's the perception of voters that matters. They'll see Biden is trying...

what he can to bring the price at the pump down. And as far as it running out before the election, it can be extended as other measures during the pandemic were.

Manchin can't seem to ever bring himself to help his own president on the big, visible issues. And this is a relatively small thing, unlike the BBB bill he famously scuttled. He can't even give Biden this.

[Torchlight]

32. Even in my politically regressive state of TX, we have an annual

Last edited Wed Jun 22, 2022, 05:28 PM - Edit history (1)

state tax holiday on most clothing, footwear, school supplies and backpacks during the tax-free weekend that hits a couple of weeks prior to the new school year. Been going on about 20 years or so.

Maybe the weekend is a political stunt, maybe it's not, but to the last, each anecdote I hear about the savings is positive. No one has yet pointed their fingers at those savings on clothing and asserted the stores are simply raising prices to make up the difference-- which seems to be today's hip, but thoroughly unsupported bullet point.

[blueinredohio]

33. I'm shocked!

[doc03]

34. I am guessing Biden may not even want the tax taken off

but the Republicans will not pass it anyway. " We tried to lower gas prices and the Republicans voted against it"

[fescuerescue]

48. Why wouldn't he?

Biden is definitely for helping people out.

[doc03]

52. I think it is a bad idea to eliminate the gas tax. That will just let the gas companies

raise their prices more. Then in three months right before the election when the tax goes back on "Biden raised the tax on gas".
Besides that the gas tax goes to fix our roads (the infrastructure we claim is so bad). I can't imagine Biden actually wants that.

[Raine]

51. Agree nt

[Mad_Machine76]

44. Quelle Suprise

[fescuerescue]

45. Manchin should just go ahead and switch the Republican Party.

Would save alot of confusion.

Also, it would get him out of the way from passing legislation we need.

[Mad_Machine76]

47. After we elect a few more Democratic Senators

he can go do whatever he wants to do with his Republican best buddies.

[treestar]

49. Does he want something in exchange?

Do his constituents get anything for all this?

More "concerns." Full of shit, he is.

[Celerity]

53. Yes, he wants something, which he lays out in the interview video. He wants to (of course)

punish EV's by making them pay taxes to make up for their lack of buying petrol.

This at a time when it is SO vital to give EV's (and the charging infrastructure they need) the biggest boosts possible so that we can get people weened off of ICE (internal combustion engine aka petrol fuelled) cars and trucks to help with global climate change.

[treestar]

54. Hey thanks

For watching that video. Listening to his bs is not easy. We have to get past our dependence on oil.