Headline Roundup • March 17th, 2022
Dem, GOP Governors Find Common Ground on Cutting Gas Taxes Amid Rising Prices
Summary from the AllSides News Team
Wanting record-high gas prices to ease is an area where most Americans can agree, and leaders from both major political parties are taking action.
Democratic governors in Pennsylvania, Michigan, New Mexico, Wisconsin, Washington and elsewhere have joined Republican governors in Maryland, Georgia, Virginia and Florida in moving to temporarily suspend the gas taxes in their states, with many arguing that drivers would benefit from some savings at the pump. On average, Americans pay $0.49 in gas tax per gallon between state and federal fees, but the number varies widely by state. California's state gas tax is the highest in the nation at $0.51 per gallon; Alaska's $0.09 per gallon tax is the lowest.
Reports across the spectrum tend to frame suspending gas taxes as a bipartisan issue and one that could quell public concern about rising gas prices. While some paint cutting gas taxes as a good idea, others highlight experts who say consumers may not save much and could end up paying more in interest and more up-front for fuel. Some reports from left-rated sources highlighted environmentalists who worry that cutting gas taxes could be an incentive for gas-powered cars and could hinder the clean energy movement's progress. Some coverage from right-rated sources focused on Democratic governors who previously supported raising gas taxes but now want to lower them, and framed that as a product of desperation and political pandering ahead of the 2022 midterm elections.
Featured Coverage of this Story
Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Decades-high inflation was already giving Americans a headache. Then came Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which sent gas prices soaring.
Now, blue and red states alike are embracing a solution that makes for great headlines: cutting gas taxes.
As federal action languishes on the issue, some states are quickly moving to suspend their own fuel taxes to counter price shocks at the pump. Governors and state lawmakers, in the midst of an election year, say it’s necessary relief for drivers.
“The combination of a war and a pandemic — if...
Justin Sullivan/Getty
Even as Republican governors blast President Biden and congressional Democrats for both causing inflation and failing to address it, they are promoting their own tax cuts that likely will add to consumer demand and raise prices.
Putting more money in people’s pockets will increase demand for goods at a time of supply shortages. That will drive up prices and worsen the inflation that the governors claim to be so worried about. And it will increase pressure on the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates even more than it planned.
What a deal:...
(AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez / AP Newsroom)
Politically vulnerable Democrats who once supported policies that would have raised gas prices are now singing a different tune ahead of the November midterm elections.
Democratic Reps. Elissa Slotkin and Dan Kildee of Michigan, Dina Titus of Nevada, and Kim Schrier of Washington state, who all face tough re-election battles in their districts, have cosponsored the Gas Prices Relief Act of 2022, which would suspend the 18.4 cents-per-gallon federal tax through the midterms and the rest of 2022.
Those same lawmakers, however, previously supported policies that would have raised gas prices.
In 2018, Slotkin said she...
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