$10 a barrel [View all]
Obama wants to tax Big Oil and spend the money on green transportation projects
The United States isn’t exactly known for its mass transportation. In all but the biggest American cities — and even in some of those — the only thing resembling public transit is the school bus. But in his final years in office, President Obama hopes to change this. Or at least start talking about it.
Politico reports that when Obama proposes the final budget of his presidency, it will call for spending more than $300 billion over the next decade to fund carbon-reducing transit projects, including subways, buses, light rail, freight rail, and a big expansion of high-speed rail, as well as potentially-less-carbon-reducing projects like self-driving cars.
And how does Obama propose to pay for it? With a $10 “fee” on every barrel of oil sold. In theory, this fee would be levied on oil companies, but even the White House acknowledges that it would probably be passed right down to consumers. “This is a per-barrel fee on oil paid for by oil companies,” White House economic adviser Jeff Zients said Thursday. “So they’re the ones paying the fee. We recognize that oil companies will likely pass on some of these costs.”
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