President Biden called on Congress to enact a three-month federal gas tax holiday to help Americans facing soaring gas prices. So what could this mean for Idahoans?
Biden’s call to Congress comes just before one of the year’s busiest travel days when Americans hit the road ahead of the Fourth of July weekend. The federal gas tax is currently at .18 cents per gallon and .24 cents for diesel. A tax cut could save Americans a couple of dollars per fill up.
Idaho Democratic Senator David Nelson and Representative James Ruchti (D-Pocatello) called for a similar gas tax holiday at the state level earlier this month. Ruchti says any relief to the public is worth considering.
“It's not going to fix everybody's problems,” he said. “It's not going to make inflation go away. But it does help families at a time when they really need it, if they're getting ready to go on vacations or trying to get their kids to activities during the summer.”
A state gas tax holiday could lower the price per gallon an additional .30 cents. Ruchti says the loss in state revenue would be offset by Idaho’s budget surplus.
Critics of Biden’s proposal worry the gas companies will pocket rather than pass-on the tax cut to customers.
The federal gas tax holiday proposal would have to be passed by a divided Congress first.