A different kind of federal holiday

President Biden told reporters yesterday that he’s considering formal support for a federal gas tax holiday, with a decision expected by the end of the week. His comments came a day after Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said such a measure is “certainly worth considering.”

🤔🏛️ What exactly is a gas tax holiday?... A federal gas tax holiday is when the US government temporarily pauses its nationwide tax on fuel, which has been set at 18.3 cents per gallon since 1993. This has never happened before, though it was a 2008 election proposal endorsed by Hilary and McCain (but not Obama).

• Any such suspension would require approval from Congress. So far, Democrat-led efforts to halt the tax have been met with firm GOP opposition.
• On the state level, recent gas tax holidays in Connecticut, Georgia, and Maryland have resulted in a majority of the savings going to consumers, rather than service stations or others, according to new estimates from the Penn Wharton Budget Model.

⛽ Big picture: The average price for a gallon of gas in the US topped $5 for the first time in history earlier this month, per AAA. It currently sits at $4.98, up from $3.07 this time last year.

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