Republicans Reverse Position on Gas Tax Suspension as Rising Fuel Prices and Inflation Pressure Voters

The Hill recently reported that the Republicans in the Senate and how they’re handling Trump’s proposal to suspend the gas tax versus how they handled Biden and his proposal to suspend the gas tax. So the Republicans, when Biden was the president, the Republicans in the Senate didn’t want any part of suspending the gas tax, federal, we’re talking about the federal gas tax. Should probably remind everybody here.

Republicans Change Position on Federal Gas Tax Suspension Under Trump

So you have with the gas tax, you have three gas taxes in the state of Indiana. You have a gas tax that is an excise tax for the state of Indiana. You have a gas tax, which is a sales tax on gas, and you have a gas tax, which is the federal gas tax. Three taxes on gas in the state of Indiana. And so what we’re talking about here is the federal tax on gas, which I believe is 18.4 cents per gallon. So the Republicans in the Senate in 2022, when Biden totally botched the whole Ukraine thing and allowed Putin to go into Ukraine and the gas shot up, Biden proposed the idea of suspending the federal tax on gas. And the Republicans in the Senate didn’t want any part of that at the time. Now, Trump, because of the price of gas going up in Indiana under Trump because of Iran, because of what’s going on with Iran, Trump is proposing to suspend the gas tax. I think it’s a big reason Braun suspended the gas tax here in the state of Indiana. He suspended that gas tax because he didn’t. They’re trying to do everything they can to help Trump. I would guess they’re getting a lot of pressure, these governors are getting a lot of pressure from Trump to do whatever they can to get the price of gas down as much as they can.

Rising Gas Prices and Iran Tensions Renew Debate Over Fuel Taxes and Inflation

And so Trump has come out and said, I want the federal government to suspend the gas tax, the federal gas tax of 18.4 cents. By the way, collectively, you’re looking at when you add up all the gas taxes together, now it’s changed. It’s gone up quite a bit because the price of gas has skyrocketed, but last count it was about 72, $0.73 a gallon. It’s probably higher than that now. So the great thing that’s coming out about all of this is that the federal government, the state government, they’re essentially admitting how unnecessary the gas tax actually is. They are essentially admitting how unnecessary it is to have the gas tax. My issue with suspending the federal gas tax isn’t getting rid of the taxes. It’s so that it won’t be offset by spending cuts. That’s what the federal government does. Anytime they cut taxes, they don’t offset it with spending cuts. So you just get gas taxes cut, taxes cut, great. We pay less, fine. But then the spending keeps going at the same level. So then you end up with deficits or future taxes. Deficits are inflation. The money gets printed to make up for the revenue that isn’t coming in. At the state level, hey, they got to find it somewhere else, either in the savings or cut spending or whatever, because they can’t print money. So I’m all for that. Here we’re going to pay for it some other way through inflation. Future generations are going to pay for it.

Lawmakers Face Criticism for Contradicting Their Earlier Statements on Gas Tax Relief

So Senator Josh Hawley, who is a Republican from Missouri, said he’s going to introduce legislation to suspend the federal gas tax, which would save people 18.4 cents per gallon. Josh Hawley, a Republican from Missouri. However, back in 2022, Hawley said of Biden proposing to suspend the gas tax, this is one of the dumbest things I’ve ever heard of. He said, quote, I mean, what Joe Biden can do if he wants to have any effect on gas prices is to suspend and reverse his idiotic Green New Deal policies that are causing this crisis. So to Hawley in 2022, it was one of the dumbest things he’d ever heard of. Now, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, who initially was against suspending the gas tax, has now warmed up to it a little bit, said in 2022 what the administration, of course, is coming up with is yet another gimmick, another Band-Aid and something they know is dead upon arrival here in Congress. Mike Lee from Utah on Monday replied to Hawley’s gas tax suspension, according to The Hill, by saying on Twitter, quote, the federal gasoline tax was introduced to build the interstate highway system. That system is now built. We should now repeal the federal gasoline tax and let each state maintain its portion of interstate highway system with its own revenue, as was the plan from the beginning. The only problem, here’s what Lee said in 2022, quote, if he just suspends the gas tax for a period of three months, first of all, he would end up extending the suspension before the midterms for the reasons you alluded to a minute ago. But even if it were just for three months, there’s a lot of that revenue that still has to, we want to have to pay for upkeep and maintenance of our interstate transportation network. In direct contrast to what he said three years ago to what he just said on Twitter.

Critics Say Gas Tax Suspensions Without Spending Cuts Will Increase Future Debt and Inflation

It gets worse. He goes on to say, our interstate system. So where’s that money going to come from? We’re just going to have to borrow more of it, effectively printing more of it. You know what that does? It spikes inflation even more. That’s why this is treacherous. That’s why this is wrong. We can’t let that happen. We can’t let it happen. These guys are on the record saying the exact opposite just three years ago. It’s not like, oh, that’s 15 years ago. I had some great epiphany. These guys are on the record saying the exact opposite of what they’re saying today, of what they’re saying today. The exact opposite. They’re just shameless.