[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 62 (Tuesday, May 7, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H4440]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          WHEN WE REDUCE THE GAS TAX, WILL CONSUMERS BENEFIT?

  (Mr. SCHUMER asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. Speaker, the bottom line is this:
  When we reduce the gas tax, are consumers going to see any of the 
benefit? That will be determined by whether there is a free market, 
whether the oil companies are actually competing with one another, 
whether all those up and down the line will pass the price through to 
the consumer. Because if we reduce the tax by 4.3 cents and the 
consumer does not get any reduction at the pump, what good is it?
  Now what we have seen in the past in the gas and oil market is that 
there is not real competition in certain ways. When the spot market 
wholesale price goes up, it immediately goes up at the pump, the price 
does. But when the spot market for crude oil goes down, it takes months 
and months and months for it to go back down.
  This chart shows it all. Wholesale price falls 4.4 percent, price at 
the pump goes up 2 cents.
  Now if that happens, the gas tax reduction will not bring any 
benefits to the American consumer, and we better make sure that it 
does.

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