Platner calls for ending federal gas, diesel taxes
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Photo illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios. Photo: Graham Platner campaign
Graham Platner, the presumptive Democratic nominee in Maine's Senate race, on Friday called for ending federal taxes on gasoline and diesel.
- Platner is also proposing a national freeze on electricity rates.
Why it matters: His race is likely among the nation's tightest — and critical for Democrats' uphill climb to regain control of the chamber in November's elections.
- Platner's proposal — part of a wider new energy plan — underscores the political importance of gasoline prices at four-year highs during the Iran war.
The big picture: It would replace the taxes — which finance highways, mass transit, bridges and more — with money from his proposed tax increases on the ultra-rich.
- "[R]egressive gas and diesel taxes hit working class Mainers the hardest. Relying on fossil fuels to fund basic infrastructure does not make sense if we want to reduce fossil fuels used in transportation," the plan states.
Driving the news: Other pillars of his plan include...
- A "windfall profits tax" on large oil producers. It shouts out legislation introduced by Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D).
- A freeze on power rate increases and "direct, low-cost energy infrastructure financing to any state that freezes or lowers electricity rates for four years."
- This would be funded through the windfall tax and "repurposed federal fossil fuel subsidies and federal energy leases."
Reality check: Platner's plan would face long odds gaining enough buy-in to become law, even if Democrats regain a narrow majority.
- The gasoline tax has long survived proposals to suspend or replace them over the years. Proposals for windfall profits taxes on oil producers have fallen short many times.
- Both kinds of ideas tend to surface during price spikes going back many years.
The bottom line: The Iran war's toll at the gasoline pump is increasingly surfacing in the midterm election battle.
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