[ennui2]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Newfie', 'I') like the idea of the tax ....but not what the money is to be used for. That's idiotic.

[peripato]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Plantagenet', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('peripato', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Plantagenet', '
')Obama is the head of the D party and both Hillary and Sanders have pledged to follow O's policies if elected President.

The real question now is whether Hillary and Sanders will make the $10/barrel oil tax part of the D platform for the 2016 campaign. As ennui notes above, this is essentially a carbon tax, and the timing couldn't be better with oil prices so low due to the oil glut.

[Tanada]

Well if the revised story is correct this would be a tariff on oil from anyone outside of the NAFTA agreement. Or would it include the TPP countries and South America Free trade zones as well? That is the problem with all these overly complicated free trade arrangements, you have to hire a team of lawyers and pay big fees before you know who is actually covered by any potential piece of legislation.

Honestly I think if we had stuck with some of the more protectionist measures and kept our middle class we would be so much better off as a nation. Instead a few at the very tip top of the pyramid are getting everything they could possibly want and the lower levels are being forced to compete with third world wage levels. The Union bosses sold their souls back in the 1970's and it has been down hill for the middle class ever since.

[Plantagenet]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('ennui2', '
')Other possible motives?....I'm sure Planty will produce plenty..

[SeaGypsy]

Jeez guys, you know what fuel taxes are in the rest of the modern world? We pay 45 cents a liter, about a buck a gallon in US terms- about 4 times what big radical O is proposing. The money goes to transport infrastructure, mostly to roads. Europe pays more.

[Sixstrings]

My first reaction to this is just that while taxes were never raised on the super rich, there has been an ACA penalty fine passed, and healthcare costs are up, and now this new oil tax proposal. That's a tax on working and middle class. Also, minimum wage was never raised and the economy is anemic at the moment and maybe headed for recession again.

As a Democrat, I would expect the President to be fighting for raising working and middle class wages -- get that done FIRST, and THEN come back and talk about a new tax.

Other than that, I would be suspicious about where the $300 billion would be going to, exactly. The article says "self driving cars." So what does that mean, exactly? The devil's in the details here. WHERE would all this money be going, is it like a boondoggle thing or would it be money well spent -- would it be pork and crony capitalism and corporate welfare, or would it be construction projects on time and under budget?

This is very general:

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'm')ass transit, high-speed rail, self-driving cars, and other transportation approaches

[Sixstrings]

I'm hearing it reported on tv news. 25 cents a gallon. (would also raise some people's electric bills, and food and all other consumer goods in the supply chain that use oil)

Anyhow.. people aren't gonna like this, lol.. a new gas tax..

Republicans won't pass this thing, but if it were passed it would be the first gas tax hike in 25 years.

Just to note, there was already a full $1 trillion for infrastructure in the stimulus bill in '09. A new oil tax really has nothing to do with needing $300 billion in infrastructure. It's a tax on oil industry and gas tax, for the sake of it, like punitive tax.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '[')b]And what have we heard all over the country – and in particular here in Louisiana? That our infrastructure is crumbling, the roads and bridges are in collapse and something has to be done. If we’re not mistaken, that was the rationale for the trillion-dollar stimulus plan he forced through Congress in 2009.

But the whole plan is designed to do something else, destroy the oil industry. The wacko greenie left is not even hiding that fact anymore. Their plans are to put the thousands of Louisianians who work in the oil and gas industry out of work.

The Louisiana delegation sent statements out blasting it.

First up: Congressman Charles Boustany, who is running for Senate

(Washington, DC) – Congressman Charles W. Boustany, Jr., MD, (R-Lafayette) released a statement blasting President Obama for his plan to propose a $10 tax on every barrel of oil to pay for a new “21st century clean transportation system.”

Boustany said: “This President has relentlessly attacked the American oil & gas industry and the working families who depend on these jobs. Today, oil prices are at their lowest point in over a decade, and the workforce is hurting. But the President is proposing a tax hike that will be passed on at the pump to these same families who are trying to make ends meet.

“This is another absurd attack on American energy, and it has to stop. I will personally see to it this new tax never sees the light of day.”

Next up, we have House Majority Whip Steve Scalise:

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Steve Scalise (R-La.) released the below statement following reports that President Obama will propose a $10-a-barrel tax on oil:

“President Obama’s proposed $10 per barrel tax on oil is dead on arrival in the House. From day one of President Obama’s Administration, he has waged open warfare on American energy and his radical policies have cost jobs while increasing costs on hard-working families. Washington spending is already too high, and the best way to create more jobs and get our economy back on track is by cutting taxes and controlling spending. The House will kill this absurd proposal, and instead focus on lowering costs and growing our economy.”

The politics though are going to be great for the Democrat Party unless Republicans get out in front of it. The Democrats will portray Republicans as in the pocket of Big Oil and opposed to clean energy.

Republicans need to make the argument about how this will hurt middle and working class Americans. Drive this home all over the country.

UPDATE: Congressman Ralph Abraham just sent this to us:

WASHINGTON – Congressman Ralph Abraham, M.D., R-Alto, released the following statement in response to President Obama’s announced plan to increase taxes on oil by $10 per barrel.

“The President’s proposal is nothing more than a plan to raise taxes on our families. Gas prices will immediately spike by 25 cents per gallon. That means a family could be paying as much as $7 or $8 more each time they fill up the family van.

President Obama is clearly willing to subject our struggling poor and middle class families to greater financial burdens for the sole purpose of appeasing radical environmental activists. An additional tax burden on hard-working Americans is not the answer, and I will never vote to support such an irresponsible tax increase,” Dr. Abraham said.
https://thehayride.com/2016/02/obama-fantasizes-about-a-10-tax-per-barrel-of-oil-and-predictably-gets-told-to-shaddap/

[Tanada]

You can look at this proposal one of two ways, either it is a throw away plan by the President to make the GOP look bad during the election cycle, or it is a serious plan to A) support the domestic oil industry and B) raise funds for programs he really believes in for future transportation in the USA.

Trying to make the GOP look bad doesn't make any sense to me for two reason, 1) they make themselves look bad enough you don't need too, 2) it could easily backfire and make the Democrat party look like the guilty party if HRC and BS don't fully support it.

[Simon_R]

I think if he really wanted this to pass, then he should raise money for a project, and when that project is done, then so is the tax.
If he just sais .... pay me, and I promise it'll be grand, I am not sure how many people would believe him.

Personally I think he should raise money for an electrified train network, linking each state capital which you could drive trucks onto.
get that sorted then worry about other projects if this is can be carried off

Simon

[wildbourgman]

Alright this thing has no chance at passage UNLESS it's only directed to foreign oil as a tariff. That's something that I could certainly see a candidate Trump backing. I can see plenty of oil state politicians backing this as well as a few top union thugs. So you bring this to congress and let the republicans and democrats in oil states turn the bill into a compromise, protectionist, job protection bill and that is the only way it could pass.

I'm not for it at all, but I can see it happening.

"Save Amurkan jobs, save the shale miracle and pass Oilbamacare " that's how this gets done.

[Plantagenet]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('SeaGypsy', 'J')eez guys, you know what fuel taxes are in the rest of the modern world? We pay 45 cents a liter, about a buck a gallon in US terms- about 4 times what big radical O is proposing. The money goes to transport infrastructure, mostly to roads. Europe pays more.

[Sixstrings]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Plantagenet', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('SeaGypsy', 'J')eez guys, you know what fuel taxes are in the rest of the modern world? We pay 45 cents a liter, about a buck a gallon in US terms- about 4 times what big radical O is proposing. The money goes to transport infrastructure, mostly to roads. Europe pays more.

[Plantagenet]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Sixstrings', '
')
Lol, I doubt even Bernie would touch this socialist thing with a ten foot pole.

Look at the comments on the articles I posted. People get MAD about a gas tax. It's stuff like "These politicians?! Just when gas finally goes down and people are just finally getting their head up above water even a little bit and not so financially devastaed, then sure enough the government wants a gas tax!"

Clinton has already promised not to raise taxes on any families making $250k or under.

[Sixstrings]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Plantagenet', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Sixstrings', '
')
Lol, I doubt even Bernie would touch this socialist thing with a ten foot pole.

Look at the comments on the articles I posted. People get MAD about a gas tax. It's stuff like "These politicians?! Just when gas finally goes down and people are just finally getting their head up above water even a little bit and not so financially devastaed, then sure enough the government wants a gas tax!"

Clinton has already promised not to raise taxes on any families making $250k or under.

[Sixstrings]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('SeaGypsy', 'J')eez guys, you know what fuel taxes are in the rest of the modern world? We pay 45 cents a liter, about a buck a gallon in US terms- about 4 times what big radical O is proposing. The money goes to transport infrastructure, mostly to roads. Europe pays more.

[Newfie]

Enuui,

This is my response to your baiting, troll!

PFSST! (That's a raspberry)

[Sixstrings]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'O')BAMA TO OIL COMPANIES (AND MOTORISTS): DROP DEAD

One of the great things about being a leftist is that you never have to be consistent. Fossil fuels are too cheap!, we are constantly told, and their overuse is wrecking the planet. But when oil prices and gasoline pump prices soar, the left complains that the oil industry is gouging us. But when oil prices collapse and the pump price goes down, what does the left want? Higher taxes on gasoline to get the price back up! Because high-priced gasoline is only fun if its achieved through taxes rather than supply and demand.
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2016/02/obama-to-oil-companies-and-motorists-drop-dead.php

[Newfie]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Plantagenet', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('ennui2', '
')Other possible motives?....I'm sure Planty will produce plenty..

[Newfie]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Tanada', 'Y')ou can look at this proposal one of two ways, either it is a throw away plan by the President to make the GOP look bad during the election cycle, or it is a serious plan to A) support the domestic oil industry and B) raise funds for programs he really believes in for future transportation in the USA.

Trying to make the GOP look bad doesn't make any sense to me for two reason, 1) they make themselves look bad enough you don't need too, 2) it could easily backfire and make the Democrat party look like the guilty party if HRC and BS don't fully support it.