May 5, 2008 2:05 pm US/Eastern
Campaign '08: Candidates Talk Gas Tax Holiday
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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Gas prices over $4 per gallon are popping up all over Westchester County, including at this Shell station in Elmsford.
CBS
Soaring gas prices have come to define the Democratic candidates a day before primaries in North Carolina and Indiana. With gas prices soaring towards an average of $4.00 a gallon and more, the candidates are wooing a prime voting block: working class Americans.
Senator Hillary Clinton continues to pursue her three-month holiday from the gas tax.
"We need short term relief and we need long term planning and I offer both," Clinton told supporters at a campaign rally.
But Senator Barack Obama calls it a classic Washington gimmick. "The average driver would save 30 cents per day for a grand total of $28. That's assuming the oil companies don't step in and raise prices by the same amount the tax has reduced," he told Tim Russert on Sunday.
Some economists agree the gas tax holiday is not sound economic policy. It would end in September and prices will jump almost $0.20 just in time for the fall campaign.
Senator Chuck Schumer has another idea: cut off arms sales to the Saudis to force them to pump more oil and drive the price of gas down.
"We are saying to the Saudis, you can't get the most advanced weapons if you are going to pick the pockets of every American," he said.
Schumer wants them to resume pumping oil at the levels of two years ago, around 800,000 more barrels per day than are being pumped this year.
"If they were to increase production to 800,000 barrels, it would lower prices 30 to 50 cents a gallon," he said.
Govenor Corzine remains opposed to the gas tax holiday proposal, arguing that New Jersey could not afford it.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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