CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Are you tired of those high gas prices? Well, you might be seeing some relief soon.
President Joe Biden asked Congress to suspend the federal gas tax, which is about $0.18, for 3 months. He also called for them to suspend the federal diesel tax, which is about $0.24.
However, some people in Corpus Christi were skeptical about whether the gas-tax suspension would even help.
“Look how fast that one went,” Robert Chavez said while he filled up his tank. "Twenty-five bucks."
Chavez said it was just last year when $25 would get him about half a tank of gas. He said, nowadays, $25 only gets him a quarter-tank.
“It’ll help a bit, but I’m guessing not too much compared to how high gas prices have risen," he said ,” about the proposed gas tax holiday. "But any penny helps."
John Skrobarczyk works for a courier service. He said he’s more concerned about legislators allowing oil companies to open up more oil pipelines.
“If they’re not careful, they’re going to shut down the whole transportation industry,” he said.
Francisco Ruiz is also more concerned with oil production than the federal gas tax holiday, saying his family works in the oil industry. He said there’s gaps in oil production, causing his family to be out of work.
He said the gas-tax holiday would only drive demand up.
“If the gas prices go down, if anything I think it’s probably going to cause a lot of people to come and start filling up like crazy and create more of that demand, and eventually they’re just going to come back right up,” Ruiz said.
AAA Texas spokesman Daniel Armbruster said the Fourth of July Weekend is expected to bring gas demand up. Triple A predicts it’s going to be a record-high holiday weekend for road travel.
He said the price of crude oil could always go up and, in essence, that could cancel out the gas-tax holiday’s relief.
“Gasoline prices — we’ve already seen in a week — can go up $0.18, so . . . the savings there can easily be taken away,“ Armbruster said.
He said the federal gas tax goes toward infrastructure improvements such as bridges and roads. He said cutting out the federal tax could affect projects.
That’s also Texas Sen. Chuy Hinojosa's mind. Hinojosa said he does support Biden’s proposed tax suspension, but would not advocate for a state tax suspension.
“That money funds our roads," he said. "The needs that we have here in Texas are over $100 billion just to keep up with our growth and highway system and replace our bridges."
