Jon Kyl: “According to the budget which we will be taking up here in the next couple of days, revenues to the Treasury are…”

“According to the budget which we will be taking up here in the next couple of days, revenues to the Treasury are expected to exceed $1.7 trillion in the 1997 fiscal year. This amount factors in the proposed repeal of the Clinton gas tax. I also note that that figure compares to $1.05 trillion collected by the Government just 5 years ago. In other words, Mr. President, the Treasury is flush with a 40-percent increase in revenues in just the last 5 years. We hardly need the revenue from this 4.3-cent gas tax. I talked in the beginning about the effect on the State of Arizona where motorists have to travel fairly large distances to get where they are going. I note that in my own State, in the city of Phoenix, for example, the price of regular unleaded gas is now about $1.39 to $1.45 a gallon. Super is about $1.63 gallon. So clearly this spike in gasoline prices is hurting motorists. One thing we can do... if we can have an effect on the tax burden imposed by the gas tax and reduce that by 4.3 cents, that is an additional savings for the people in my State which would certainly help them.”