Photo credits: Getty ImagesVacation season looms, and would-be travelers are wondering how they can afford their annual trips to visit the old home place, take the kids to Disney World, or maybe visit New York City for the first time.
The gas tax issue reminds us that when it comes to problems faced by today’s average American family, Hillary Clinton gets it, but her opponent Barack Obama remains clueless.
As reported by the AP’s Sara Kugler, Clinton proposes suspending the 18.4 cent federal gas tax and 24.4 cent diesel tax from Memorial Day to Labor Day to ease the economic burden for consumers this summer.
Clinton’s proposal differs from a similar idea offered earlier by John McCain as Clinton wants to make up the difference in revenue by imposing a "windfall profits tax" on oil companies.
Clinton also supports suspending the purchase of oil for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, and she backs investing in clean energy sources and raising fuel efficiency standards.
Kugler noted that Obama does not support the “gas tax holiday” and has said the average motorist would not benefit significantly from such a suspension; by some estimates, the federal government would lose about $10 billion in revenue.
According to TradingMarkets.Com, Obama had backed a similar temporary gas-tax freeze as an Illinois state senator in 2000. So Republicans are tagging Obama as a "flip-flopper," calling his current position "calculating and contradictory."
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