Sen. Barack Obama, speaking in Wilmington today, fired back at Sen. John McCain over McCain's proposal to suspend the gas tax for three months this summer, Barb Barrett reports.
"Over three months, you’re going to save about $25 or $30, or half a tank of gas," Obama told the crowd. "That’s his big solution."
Obama continued: "He had the gall yesterday to tell me that because I didn’t agree with his plan, I must not be sympathetic to poor people."
The crowd murmured its disapproval.
"That's what he said," Obama added.
He said McCain's idea is another example of Washington's idea of short-term fixes. The long-term fix, Obama said, is to challenge corporate tax breaks, look into price-gouging from oil companies and reduce the country's dependence on fossil fuels.
"I’m here to tell you the truth," Obama said. "We could suspend the gas tax for six months and that’s not going to bring down gas prices."
Update: A McCain spokesman responded to Obama's comments. "It’s clear Barack Obama’s not strong enough to provide immediate relief at the pump, and it shows he doesn’t understand our economy or have the ability to deliver for hardworking Americans," said Tucker Bounds, a McCain spokesman.
Comments
Re: Obama: gas tax break not the answer
April 29, 2008 - 8:56am — dahedgehogA look at what reporting looks like: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/28/AR2008042802753.html
Re: Obama: gas tax break not the answer
April 29, 2008 - 8:35am — ncmoderateI hate to interfere with Eli's conspiracy fantasy, but is he aware that all motorists who buy gas, regardless of race, pay this tax? Furthermore, Obama didn't propose we race the gas tax, he just argued correctly that suspending it wouldn't offer the financial relief most Americans are looking for and would deprive the government needed revenue to provide and maintain our roads and infrastructure (remember that bridge that collapsed last year in MN?)
Re: Obama: gas tax break not the answer
April 29, 2008 - 8:08am — dahedgehogSorry, I thought RTB posted this story. Well, bniolet, please note that this is not a he-said, she-said story. There is no equivalence in the claims of Republicans and Democrats on this issue, so you should not treat their claims equally.
bniolet, there are hundreds of economics professors in the area who will gladly answer questions for you on these issues. You should actually work to inform your readers on the competing claims of the Obama and McCain camps. This is called "reporting." I know, reporting is harder than stenography, but it's what you presumably signed up for when you took a job at the N&O.
Re: Obama: gas tax break not the answer
April 29, 2008 - 8:03am — dahedgehogWow, this place has become a gathering of people with aluminum foil hats!
OK folks, time for a little Micro 101. A temporary moratorium on the gas tax is going to do nothing to lower prices at the pump. Instead, those tax savings will accrue as additional income for the oil companies.
According to the oil industry, they have their refineries running flat out, producing all the gas they can. This means that the price is determined on the demand side (for those who remember the normal upward sloping demand curves and downward sloping supply curves, this last sentence means that, in the gasoline market, the supply curve is a vertical line, while the demand curve is downward sloping).
We have a fixed amount of gas entering the market, the question is simply what price clears the market. In this context, if we reduce or eliminate the gas tax, the price doesn't change, the lower tax will simply allow Exxon and other oil companies to keep more profits (unless of course they were lying about running their refineries at capacity).
Since most people do not have much familiarity with economics, the media should be informing the public about the impact of Senator McCain's proposal.
RTB, if you need help reporting economic issues, please feel free to shoot me an email.
Re: Obama: gas tax break not the answer
April 29, 2008 - 7:28am — Eli333Barack Hussein Obama is planning to double the capital gains tax and re-distribute the collected money to the professional welfare crowd. Obama is also planning to raise all taxes across the board. This is Obama's backdoor approach to implement slavery reparations. The white race will be hit financially hard because the white race is the targeted people. I will have to sell my second house that I bought as an investment and worked hard to pay for. If Obama is elected, welcome guests at the white house will be Jeremiah Wright,Louis Farrakhan,Weatherman terrorist Billy Ayers,Obama's Islamic jihadist, Kenyan cousin Raila Odinga, Obama's Kenyan brother Abongo "Roy" Obama who is a militant Muslim who preaches that the black man must liberate himself from the poisoning influences of European/Western culture. I will bet that Tony Rezko will be pardoned by Obama if Obama gets elected. There are members of the racist Nation Of Islam working in Obama's election headquarters as I write this. Barack Obama tells lie after lie. Obama stated that Jeremiah Wright is angry because he was was raised in poverty because of white oppression. This is an outrageous Obama lie. Wright's upbringing was in a upper middle class family in Philadelphia so the poverty story is a blatant Obama lie. Jeremiah Wright didn't even attend the school in his own district but was one of the few and privileged to attend the elite prestigious Central high school across town. Wright has lived a charmed life that most of us long for. Wright is a racist and Wright alone is to blame for his hatred of whites and Jews. Wright's racist church is now building him a 10 million dollar mansion. Jeremiah Wright curses America with his belly and bank account full. Obama sat in a pew for twenty years and agreed with racist Jeremiah Wright with his silence. Obama's silence is deafening.
Re: Obama: gas tax break not the answer
April 29, 2008 - 5:53am — FFC1304UM, I really LIKE the IDEA of a Federal GAS TAX MORATORIUM, because, that means the NC GAS TAX would FALL with it because the democrackkks ALWAYS say the NC tax cannot be changed cause 'its tied to the federal', their lamea** excuse...
WHY have NC democrackkks SO OPPRESSED the people for the past 100 years?
Re: Obama: gas tax break not the answer
April 28, 2008 - 3:44pm — uncgopSince Obama thinks that McCain's plan is not the answer, what does he propose?
Perhaps opening American oil fields?