While Hillary might not listen to them, more than 200 economists have come out against the gas tax holiday being floated by Hillary Clinton and John McCain:
May 5 (Bloomberg) — More than 200 economists, including four Nobel prize winners, signed a letter rejecting proposals by presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and John McCain to offer a summertime gas-tax holiday.
Columbia University economist Joseph Stiglitz, former Congressional Budget Office Director Alice Rivlin and 2007 Nobel winner Roger Myerson are among those who signed the letter calling proposals to temporarily lift the tax a bad idea. Another is Richard Schmalensee of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who was member of President George H.W. Bush’s Council of Economic Advisers.
The moratorium would mostly benefit oil companies while increasing the federal budget deficit and reducing funding for the government highway maintenance trust fund, the economists said.
“Suspending the federal tax on gasoline this summer is a bad idea, and we oppose it,” the letter says. Economist Henry Aaron of the Brookings Institution is among those circulating the letter. Aaron said that while he supports Obama, the list includes Republicans and Clinton supporters.
And, apparently, John McCain won’t listen to economists either:
“I find people who are the wealthiest who are most dismissive of a plan to give low-income Americans a little holiday” so they have “a little more to give to their children and enjoy the summer a little more,” McCain said today. “Thirty dollars means nothing to a lot of economists — I understand that. It means a lot to some low-income Americans.”
What McCain conveniently doesn’t mention of course is that he’s talking about $ 30 over the entire summer. Hardly a windfall when you really think about it.
But, of course, politicians don’t want you to think about pandering schemes like this one.
Related Posts:
The Gas Tax Holiday Scam
Obama Is Right: The Gas-Tax Holiday Idea Is A Phony, Pandering Scam
Hillary Clinton Panders At The Gas Pump
How Much Would You Actually Save If The Federal Gas Tax Was Suspended For The Summer ?
Obama Responds To Hillary’s Gas Tax Ad
More On The Gas Tax Holiday Scam
Hillary Clinton Continues To Demagogue The Gas Tax Holiday
The Gas Tax Holiday: Political Pandering And Economic Stupidity In One Convenient Package
Bloomberg On The Gas Tax Holiday: The Dumbest Idea I’ve Heard In A Long Time
The Gas Tax Holiday: Does Anyone Really Think This Is A Good Idea ?
Good News On The Gas Tax Holiday Scheme
June 9th, 2008 at 3:56 pm
[...] I noted more than once —- see here, here, here, here, and here —- the absurdity of the idea that suspending an 18-cent per gallon for three months would [...]