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Variety in the Heartland |
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Gas Tax Suspension
05/07/08 MRC/AP
Count Jim Bunning among the skeptics of a
temporary suspension of federal gas taxes.
The Kentucky Republican
senator said Tuesday that a summertime gas tax holiday
wouldn't relieve pressure at the pump for consumers facing
sky-high gas prices.
Bunning said the way to
reduce oil prices is to increase domestic energy
production. Bunning is co-sponsoring legislation to allow
drilling in the Alaska refuge and to develop
coal-to-liquid fuels.
Bunning said a suspension
of the federal 18.4-cents per gallon federal tax on
gasoline would take several billion dollars out of the
federal road fund. He said general tax dollars would
replace the lost gas tax revenue, adding to the nation's
debt.
Bunning's opposition to a
gas tax holiday puts him at odds with fellow Senator John
McCain, his party's presidential nominee-in-waiting. And
on at least that issue, it puts Bunning in agreement with
Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama, who has
criticized the gas tax holiday.
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