$10 barrel oil tax.

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There seems to be some stock market correction related to the recent oil glut.  People are somewhat concerned of their investment portfolios for retirement.  Obama's $10/barrel oil tax will further reduce demand adding to the glut along with Iran coming back online because of the lifted sanctions, with more product.  How is this helping/hurting the US ?

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It might be an attempt to encourage alternative fuels maybe? Alternative ways of transportation etc?

Even with a $10/ barrel, at the pump we'd still pay less than most of the world.

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Feb 10, 2016 14:11:19 GMT -5 deminmaine said:

It would help American infrastructure by raising needed funds to spend on repairing roads, bridges, etc. (The gas tax should have been pegged to inflation for this years ago btw)

It would hurt to the extent that it is spent on other things besides the above.

It would hurt as any tax that increases cost will do: it will decrease consumption, not necessarily of (just) oil, but perhaps discretionary spending.

It will probably not pass though, as Congress has declared it DOA.

It would have been better to increase the gas tax and peg it directly to roads.  This has been needed for a long time.

There was some talk a while back about a use tax for roads and then it just disappeared.  With ever increasing mandatory fuel economy standards, the fixed tax on the gallon will continue to slowly dry up the revenue for road building/maintenance.  I wouldn't want to be a politician with that problem on my plate.  Of course it would be less of a problem as you stated using the tax as collected for what it was intended for.  www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=web&cd=5&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiv0OefmKXLAhWkgYMKHdJ3B4QQFghAMAQ&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.usnews.com%2Fopinion%2Feconomic-intelligence%2F2015%2F01%2F21%2Fgas-tax-increase-must-be-used-to-pay-for-highway-trust-fund&usg=AFQjCNFxA3U6ISkRoAvyXyUP0iWggQ5RzA&bvm=bv.115339255,d.amc
Replenishing the Highway Trust Fund with more gas tax dollars may seem like a logical answer until one acknowledges that old habits are hard to break. A number of watchdog groups maintain that the National Highway Trust Fund is a revenue stream that politicians can’t resist, whether it’s for highways or not. And they may be right. According to Heritage Foundation Policy Analyst Emily Goff, Washington reportedly “diverts more than 25% of [the Highway Trust Fund revenue] to subways, streetcars, buses, bicycle and nature paths, and landscaping, at the expense of road and bridge projects.”

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I think a use tax would be fair but I don't know of a way to enforce it without major privacy violations. I wouldn't want a government gps in my car monitoring my movements and I doubt anyone else would want one either.

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There's plenty of money to upgrade infrastructure with existing revenue (yeah, but wait for the whining that all spending is CRITICALLY IMORTANT).  Unfortunately, Congress and the Administration would have to agree to eliminate other spending to do it, since they've been asleep at the infrastructure switch for decades. 

Focusing on oil taxes is just another way to artificially manipulate the economics of energy, to the economic detriment of the people.  I'm sure that supporters think that undermining consumer economics is for a better good.  IOW, idyllic worlds with rainbows and unicorns are more important to them than the everyday life of Americans.