Hillary Clinton/John McCain have continued to distinguish themselves from President Bush this week. Along with long term commitments in Iraq (see Hillary, 2005) and threatening Iran, now the two (Republican?) candidates are hitching their wagons to the gas tax moratorium.
Many of us have been following the story of the gas tax moratorium as originally proposed by John McCain and subsequently adopted by Hillary Clinton. They suggest that the government roll back the 18.5 cent federal gas tax from Memorial Day until Labor Day. McCain is pretty clear on not having a way to make up for the lost infrastructure funding. Hillary, on the other hand, pretends that she can get a windfall profit tax passed to pay for her plan that a) will be signed by the ExxonMobil White House and b) would not immediately be passed on to the consumer through higher gas prices.
To paraphrase Ezra Klein, getting folks to agree on anything in politics is hard, but, incredibly, economists across the political and ideological spectrum have been united in their criticism of the proposal.
An open letter, dated May 4th 2008, was released declaring opposition to the gas tax moratorium and outlining four pretty straightforward reasons for it. The letter was signed by over 200 economists:
http://gastax08.blogspot.com/
Put simply, suspending the federal tax on gasoline this summer is a bad idea and we oppose it.
...research shows that waiving the gas tax would generate major profits for oil companies rather than significantly lowering prices for consumers.
...a tax holiday would provide very little relief to families feeling squeezed.
The letter wraps with a strong show of unity.
Signers of this letter are Democrats, Republicans and Independents. This is not a partisan issue. It is a matter of good public policy.
The letter is signed by such heavyhitters as Nobel prize winner Joseph Stiglitz, Peter Diamond and James Galbraith.
The letter is compelling and effective in its simplicity. I wonder if I'm the only one having scary flashbacks when a presidential candidate decides to buck the experts to 'go with her gut'.