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Any non-electric car owner knows that the prices at the pump are hitting pretty hard lately. Earlier this month, they even surged to an all-time high. Now, the government is hoping to offset the financial impact of fuel costs with another stimulus check.
Because Americans could wind up spending $2,000 more on gas this year, politicians are devising relief plans. A new bill proposed by Democratic Representatives Mike Thompson, John Larson and Lauren Underwood of California, Connecticut and Illinois, respectively, seeks sending up to $300 monthly to certain Americans as long as the nation's average gas price remains above $4 a gallon.
In a statement, Rep. Thompson said the gas stimulus will "provide middle-class Americans with monthly payments to ease the financial burden of this global crisis." They're calling it the Gas Rebate Act and it would provide a $100 check each month to both joint and single filers, plus an additional $100 for each dependent, so long as the gas prices stay high. Similar to the three stimulus checks Americans already got, it would go to single people earning less than $75,000 and joint filers making less than $150,000, with the checks phasing out for anyone making more, up to $80,000 for singles and $160,000 for joint filers.
While there is no word yet on how the checks will be paid for, a second proposal from Democratic Representative Ro Khanna of California and Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island seeks to charge a tax on oil and gas companies, whose profits have significantly risen, and use that money for checks to Americans. Called the Big Oil Windfall Profits Tax, it would levy a tax on each barrel equal to 50% of the difference between the current price per barrel of oil and its pre-pandemic average between 2015 and 2019. They calculate it would mean a $240 check per year per single filer and one for $360 per year per joint filer.
As yet, no word on the likelihood of the proposals becoming bills that get passed, but with millions hurting as they pay for gas and opting to drive less because of it, something might have to happen soon before the economy takes another hit.