Cord Byrd: “we have before the Senate a proposal to repeal the 4.3-cent-per-gallon Federal excise tax on gasoline enacted in 1993 as…”

“we have before the Senate a proposal to repeal the 4.3-cent-per-gallon Federal excise tax on gasoline enacted in 1993 as part of a comprehensive deficit-reduction package. That legislation--the Omnibus Budget and Reconciliation Act of 1993 [OBRA]-- has been largely responsible for cutting the Federal deficit nearly in half since its enactment. The 4.3-cent tax on gasoline that was included in that legislation has contributed more than $10 billion to this deficit reduction. Though we have not yet completed the difficult task of balancing the Federal budget, in the middle of a Presidential election year we are suddenly being lured by a politically inspired proposal to repeal that very same 4.3-cent tax for the remainder of 1996 to combat a recent increase in gasoline prices across the country. Our colleagues in the majority would have us believe that the 4.3-cent gasoline tax is the primary culprit for the current high level of gas prices. The American people are being asked to believe that a simple repeal of the 1993 tax for the balance of one year will cure the pain at the pump. And this is utter folly. It is not true. Mr. President, the current Federal excise tax on gasoline stands at 18.3 cents per gallon--approximately 14 percent of the current average price of a gallon of unleaded regular gasoline. The 4.3-cent tax that this proposal would repeal represents less than 3.5 percent of the current cost of a gallon of gasoline.”