Rep. Charles Boustany, R-Md., proposed a resolution Tuesday that says President Obama’s proposed oil tax would only end up being passed back to consumers, and said Obama’s failure to realize that shows he doesn’t get how the economy works.
“[B]elieving that oil companies will pay the fee with no effect on consumer prices requires also believing that the producers won’t pass their increased cost on to refiners, who won’t in turn pass their costs on to the public; in other words, requires suspending belief in basic economics,” the resolution reads.
Boustany and other Republicans have said Obama’s proposed $10 tax on each barrel of oil is a nonstarter in Congress, along with the rest of his budget and tax plan. But the oil tax in particular was dismissed by the GOP as something that would hit an industry while it’s down.
“[T]he price of a barrel of oil is currently around $30, less than a third of the $90-plus it was selling for 18 months ago,” Boustany’s resolution reads. That would mean Obama’s plan “would be equivalent to a 33.3 percent tax, making the United States federal excise tax on oil the highest of any domestic product.”
The resolution says the oil tax could end up adding 25 cents to each gallon of gasoline. That’s more than a doubling of the 18.4 cent tax on gas.
It says the tax would add to the more than 250,000 people who have already lost their jobs to sinking oil prices. Read his resolution here:
