The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“REPEAL THE GASOLINE TAX” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Energy was published in the Senate section on pages S4782-S4783 on May 7, 1996.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
REPEAL THE GASOLINE TAX
Mr. GRAMM. Mr. President, there is a growing concern in our country about the rise of fuel prices, the rise of gasoline prices. Obviously, the President shares this concern. We have committee hearings underway. We have studies. We have investigations.
We all know that there is only one thing we can do that is going to bring down gasoline prices immediately. In fact, we have the capacity, by acting now, to bring down the cost of filling up the gas tank on your car, on your van, on your truck. We can save you about $1 a fill-
up by repealing the 4.3-cent-a-gallon tax on gasoline that was adopted in 1993.
That gasoline tax increase did not go to build new highways; it went to general revenue. What we would like to do today is repeal that gasoline tax. We would like to repeal that tax on highway gasoline, on highway diesel fuel, on railroad diesel fuel, on inland waterway diesel fuel, on aviation gasoline, on noncommercial jet fuel, and on commercial jet fuel. We would like to repeal that 4.3-cent-a-gallon tax on each of those fuels, do it today and have that repeal in effect until the end of the year, giving us an opportunity to write a budget and to institute a permanent repeal as part of that new budget.
It would be our goal today to pay for this loss of revenue by cutting the overhead and travel budget of the Energy Department and by selling a very small part of the spectrum, something that the President has supported at a level of $38 billion of sales, something that the Congress is on record in favor of. On a $19 billion sale, we would have roughly a $2 billion sale as part of this package.
If you want to bring down the price of gasoline at the pump, if you want, by Friday morning, to have every filling station in America going out, opening for business, bringing down their posted price by 4.3 cents a gallon, saving every motorist in America about $1 when they fill up their tank, there is only one thing we can do, and that is repeal this tax on gasoline.
I hope we can do it today. I hope the House can act quickly, that the President will sign it, that we can grant relief. What a great thing it would be to do it on tax freedom day, when the average American family has worked from January 1 until today just to pay taxes.
For the first time this year, they are working for themselves. Today would be an excellent day to repeal this tax, to give relief to motorists and, in the process, let working families keep more of what they earn.
Mr. DOLE addressed the Chair.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Gregg). The majority leader is recognized.
Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, I particularly thank the Senator from Texas, who first raised this issue several weeks ago, and I thank him for his leadership. I think it would be an excellent day, since today is tax freedom day. Hopefully, we can reach an agreement here.
I think repeal of the gas tax will pass. The Senator from Texas has outlined how we pay for it--the spectrum sales, which is about $2.5 billion in savings, and the Energy Department, about $800 million over the next 7 years. This would repeal it through the end of this year, and the Budget Committee would then come forth with repeal thereafter.
I also add that, of course, it is tax freedom day, and a lot of people have noted that. I am not certain how many taxpayers have thought about it, but, as the Senator from Texas pointed out, tomorrow they are sort of on their own. For the first 128 days, they have been working for the local, State, and Federal Government, just to pay their taxes. That is on the average.
Since President Clinton came on board, we have added 1 week to that because of the big, big tax increase in 1993 of $265 billion to $268 billion. So it has already been extended. You have to work an extra week, after 3 years of President Clinton, to get to tax freedom day.
Some would say, well, 4.3 cents is not really worth it. I think that, from the standpoint of sending a signal to the American people, we are serious about tax reduction, serious about tax freedom day. It is not just a day to make an appearance somewhere or make a statement on the Senate floor. We are serious about it.
As the Senator from Texas pointed out, this 4.3 cents is not going for highways, or bridges, or mass transit, or construction of any kind. It is going for deficit reduction. I have voted for tax increases in the past, as has been pointed out by my colleagues on the other side, to build highways and bridges. That is what we thought the fuel taxes were all about.
In 1990, for a very short period of time, we had to divide a 5-cent tax increase between the deficit and the trust fund so that we could get our colleagues on the other side to go along with the budget agreement of 1990. That would have expired at the end of 5 years. But before that expiration date occurred, the big tax bill of 1993 took that 5 cents and put it all in the trust fund, but then added 4.3 cents to deficit reduction. Therein lies the problem of today. We have a permanent 4.3 cents gas tax for deficit reduction.
The people who build highways, who travel our highways, and use mass transit can understand if you are doing it to make the highway safer, for better transportation, better highways, and mass transit, but not deficit reduction. So we need to cut taxes for the average family. We also need to go back and look at some of the things that were vetoed last year, such as the $500-per-child tax credit, the expanded IRA's, tax relief for education expenses, estate tax relief for family businesses, marriage penalty relief, and a whole host of things we think are good incentives and should be adopted and would create jobs and opportunities.
American families--at least the ones I visit with--think they are paying enough in taxes. As I said, they are paying a lot more because of the legislation that was passed in 1993, without a Republican vote in the House or the Senate.
So today I am introducing, along with Senator Gramm, and others, legislation repealing the 1993 gas tax hike. I am going to ask in a moment unanimous consent to bring the gas tax repeal to a vote on the taxpayer bill of rights. The taxpayer bill of rights 2 is pending at the desk. We can bring that up, offer an amendment, have 30 minutes of debate, and vote on it. It would then go to the House, and we will have repealed the 4.3-cent gas tax.
I hope we can have an agreement on this. It seems to me that we know it is going to pass. It is going to happen one of these days. It may as well happen today, as the Senator from Texas pointed out, on tax freedom day. So this would be a good day to indicate that we are serious about it.
There is some question as to whether the repeal would result in lower gas prices for consumers. On Friday, I was in Virginia at an Exxon station with Senator Warner, Congressman Tom Davis, and others, and we were assured by the owner of the station--in fact, he is the owner of several Exxon stations--that, obviously, it was their intent to pass the 4.3 cents on to consumers. That is how they do business. They know their customers, and the customers are going to know whether or not it has been passed on to them.
Our amendment is drafted to ensure that this happens by providing an immediate tax cut against other applicable excise taxes. We also require that the Departments of Justice, Treasury, and Energy study fuel prices in June, July, and August 1996, to determine whether the gas tax repeal is passed through to consumers. Those Departments would be required to report back to Congress by September 30.
We also propose a sense of the Congress that the benefits of the gas tax repeal be made immediately available to consumers. So we have listened to the concerns expressed by our colleagues. We had the same concerns. We believe the benefits will go to the consumers. Just to make certain and erase any doubt or skepticism, we have added these provisions.
Repealing the 1993 gas tax will cut driving costs for families who drive to work, to school, to worship, or on vacation. There are many reasons for the skyrocketing gas prices. Maybe they will go up. We are not suggesting that the repeal of the gas tax is going to put the halt to rising gas prices, but they will be at least 4.3 cents less. It is one way of cut driving costs for American families and businesses. I think it is something we should do, something we will do. Also, we would like to scrap--and at the appropriate time we will talk about it, later this year--the current tax system and replace it with a flatter, fairer, and simpler system that no longer discourages savings and investment, economic growth, and job creation.
So I urge my colleagues not to object, so we can get on with the work of debating this. It should not take long. It is a fairly clear-cut issue at stake. I will now propound the unanimous-consent request, and I understand the distinguished Democratic leader may have some request of his own. I propound this request.
____________________
