CONNOR HOFFMAN
Staff Writer
President Barack Obama might be one of the few people in America who will tell you the price of oil is too low. Obama announced his new clean transportation plan on Feb. 4, and one of the biggest parts of this plan was a proposal for a $10.25 a oil barrel tax, according to Politico. This tax is expected to be phased in over the next five years.
This tax is all part of Obama’s plan to try to force the big corporations to change over to more green technology, and the idea is to tax them so much that they will be forced to switch.
This proposal is intended to raise $319 million over the course of 10 years for transportation and other proposals, according to Bloomberg Business. This money will mainly go to develop mass transit, high-speed rails, self-driving cars and other forms of transportation that are more environmentally friendly.
“The new fee on oil will also encourage American innovation and leadership in clean technologies to help reshape our transportation landscape for the decades ahead,” said a statement released by the White House.
This statement also said that this plan is hoping to recreate the economic boom that Eisenhower’s interstate highway plan created by opening up an entire new industry to develop.
This tax is being leveled on the oil companies, but in reality, this tax will only affect average Americans at the pump. Companies will just increase their oil prices to make up their losses.
I find it ironic that this plan is being unveiled by the very same man who viciously campaigned against the high oil prices of the Bush years. This is the same man that, in 2011, said he recognized how gas prices affect Americans.
“Rising prices at the pump affect everybody,” Obama said. “[They affect] workers, farmers, truck drivers, restaurant owners, students that are lucky enough to have a car.” At that very same speech he even acknowledged that every $10 raise on oil results in consumers paying 25 cents more per gallon at the pump.
People can try to say all day long how this tax is only being raised on oil consumers, but oil is the lifeblood of our economy, and everyone’s wallet will feel this tax hike. This increase could cause our economy to go back into a recession because it will affect every industry.
This isn’t the first time that Obama has made taxpayers foot the bill for a green energy project that they don’t approve of. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, or the “stimulus bill” as it’s more commonly known, was the first time we would see Obama waste our tax money on questionable green technology.
Solandra was the most notable company that received this government money. This company was given a $535 million loan from the government in 2009, and by August 2011, they filed for bankruptcy.
One of the biggest lessons from the stimulus bill was that the government cannot just create an economic boom by throwing money at businesses, and I don’t see why Obama seems to think that this time will be any different than the last.
Luckily this plan has been met with heavy resistance and is very unlikely to pass in the Republican controlled Congress. Steve Scalise, the House Majority Leader, said the proposal was “dead on arrival.”
“This isn’t a budget so much as a progressive manual for growing the federal government at the expense of hardworking Americans,” said Paul Ryan, the speaker of the House of Representatives.
Our economy is only starting to slightly recover from the disastrous recession, and this is exactly the opposite of what is needed to kickstart our economy.
Let’s hope that Obama doesn’t get his way, and the Republicans in Congress stop this disastrous policy before it kills our economy.