US President Joe Biden seeks federal gas tax holiday as prices skyrocket

US President Joe Biden will ask Congress to suspend the federal gas tax for three months as skyrocketing prices cause widespread anger among Americans just months before crucial mid-term elections.

The White House wants to discontinue the 18 cents per gallon tax until September and will call on state governments to do the same to “provide direct relief to American consumers who have been hit with Putin’s price hike,” a senior administration official said.

The official noted that gas prices — now averaging near $5 per gallon (3.78 litres) — had gone up almost $2 since Russian President Vladimir Putin began building up forces on the Ukrainian border earlier this year.

“The president recognises the significant challenge that high gas prices pose to working families,” the official said, while conceding the tax suspension alone would not offset household costs that are rising at the fastest rate in a generation.
well as push refiners to expand their crude-processing capacity in the hope the combined measures could cut the price of gasoline by as much as a dollar per gallon.

Biden has previously taken a number of steps to alleviate the pain at the pump since Russia’s February invasion of Ukraine sent fuel prices soaring not just in the United States, but globally.

Those measures include releasing a million barrels of oil per day from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, negotiating the release of an additional 60 million barrels from international partners and expanding access to biofuels.

Source: eNCA

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