Republicans Unlikely to Back $10-Per-Barrel Oil Tax, Transportation Budget Expert Says
Jason Reed/ReutersA proposal by the Obama administration to get oil companies to pay a $10-per-barrel fee on oil is unlikely to get Republican support in Congress, transportation budget expert Jack Basso told Transport Topics.
“I don’t see the Republicans in Congress enacting any of that, and if you don’t have that, then I don’t know where the revenue comes from to do what they want to do,” Basso, an analyst with global business consulting firm Parsons Brinckerhoff, said Feb. 5.
The administration’s barrel fee proposal would be phased in over five years, and it is meant to pay for new infrastructure projects. The proposal will be included in the administration’s fiscal 2017 budget request expected to be released Feb. 9.
In a fact sheet about the proposal, the White House said: “By placing a fee on oil, the president’s plan creates a clear incentive for private sector innovation to reduce our reliance on oil and at the same time invest in clean energy technologies that will power our future.”
Former Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, co-chairman of Building America’s Future, praised the proposal.
“If passed, the president’s plan will make up for the shortfall in the recently passed transportation bill,” LaHood said, referring to the 2015 highway law known as the FAST Act.
