Why don't we put some money into our failed public transportation infrastructure?  And, on a personal note, why doesn't Boston's T run all night??  

here in MN we put up holy hell to pass a slight gas tax increase and now people are proposing a let the federal tax go limp.  The price will come to equilibrium whether or not there is a tax.  The demand may be relatively inelastic but it isn't completely so.

Excellent diary/points.

Fed tax is only 18.4 cents a gallon. Ahem 18.4 Cents a gallon. (ya think any jobs benefit from this?)

As for States?
Sort it out for yourselves

http://commonsensejunction.com/notes/gas -tax-rate.html

This blogger seems to have hit the nail on the head with what Hill is attempting with this gax tax suspension idea.  Say what you will about her, but she sure knows what to do with a popular, but unreasonable, political position with which she does not agree and use it to her advantage anyway.

http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/a rchives/2008/04/credit_where_due_3.php#c omments

"Speaking on CNN Monday night, New York's Sen. Clinton outlined a series of steps to address gas prices, including the release of oil from the country's strategic reserves. She said she would 'also consider a gas-tax holiday, if we could make up the lost revenues from the Highway Trust Fund,' which the federal gas tax supports. She didn't specify how those lost revenues would be recovered."

"In other words, Clinton doesn't agree with McCain's idea. She'll do it only 'if we could make up the lost revenues from the Highway Trust Fund.' But we can't make up the lost revenues from the Highway Trust Fund, so she won't do it. And that's the right answer, but she's successfully confused most of the audience into thinking she does favor the holiday."

I apologize to linking a weird site...but they do have the numbers.(Can I get an amen for shutting down the sleazy pay-day loan places like the one advertising at this place?)

When I saw that, I was shocked. It's about as deceptive and intellectually dishonest an ad as can be developed. And what makes it even worse is that she does it at a time when many less fortunate Americans are really struggling to pay for increasing energy costs.

She's going to pay for the freeze in the gas tax by TAKING AWAY EXCESSIVE PROFITS??? Every politician over the last 30 years has said they're going to investigate oil price fixing etc, and I would be willing to bet nothing has ever come from it. Also, I'd love to know how you're going to tax windfall profits. She knows she can't do it, but says it anyways.

She will say ANYTHING if she thinks it will get her a few extra votes. The truth be damned.

I actually don't think you'll see consumption rise a whole lot if a tank of gas costs $2 or $3 less. And that's all we're talking about. Sure cheaper is cheaper and every dollar matters but it won't have a huge impact. When I bought my current vehicle I could fill it for about $25. It's now $60. Color me unimpressed with a discount of a couple bucks. The problem is what do you do about the loss of revenue to the system that funds road projects. As recent examples show this country needs to spend more money, not less, on it's infrastructure.

An oil trader on any given day, hour or minute does not know what the wholesale market price of oil will be.

And you do?

I know that a retail tax on a product won't change the wholesale price of that product.  

How do you know demand will increase, much less supply will remain the same (are you OPEC)?

It is basic economics.  

Don't take my word for it.  LINK

Let's start with the fact that refineries are essentially operating at capacity. In summer, when travel is at its peak, this is especially true. This translates to a completely inelastic supply curve. What does economics 101 teach us about taxes and completely inelastic supply curves? It teaches us that there will be virtually NO price effect at the pump. You will just be transferring the tax revenues to the oil companies. So the claim that this would stem the public's pain is absurd.

Gas tax holiday?

How about NOT invading Iraq and not drumming up a war against Iran?  Wonder how much of the risk that would take out of gas prices...

First, I was wondering if the diarist, in his economic wisdom, was familiar with the concept of price elasticity in demand?

Gasoline is actually the textbook example of inelastic demand.  So I believe if you were as familiar with economics as you pretend to be, you would have known this.  And then you could have perhaps avoided the unpleasant taste of that foot in your mouth.

In terms of how much stimulus effect it would have, I'm not exactly sure.  It seems to me that if you assume most folks using 10+ gallons a week, you are basically looking at a stimulus effect greater than the rebate checks most of us will be getting.  So this is just a different way of packaging it.

Now, if you had read the second of the links you provided, you would see that the main criticism of McCain's plan wasn't that it would not have a stimulus effect, it was how it would be paid for:

But McCain's proposal could cost the government some $9 billion dollars - and more than 300,000 jobs.

The tax supports the federal Highway Trust Fund, which finances road projects nationwide and is already facing a $3.4 billion shortfall, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials says. The American Society of Civil Engineers says every dollar invested in highway infrastructure generates $5.40 in economic benefits through reduced delays, improved safety and lower vehicle operating costs. And the federal transportation department says every $1 billion in highway spending creates 34,779 jobs.

A McCain spokesman told MSNBC the senator favors transferring money from the general fund to make up for the lost gas tax revenue. That, of course, would add to the deficit.

So it was at the expense of the Highway Trust Fund, or put on the credit card.

Therefore, it is intellectually dishonest for you to call this "Clinton's" plan, since her plan operates under a complete different premise - windfall profits tax on Big Oil.  That was what she said she would use to pay for the tax holiday, with the substantial balance added to the Highway Trust Fund.  So her plan is the exactly opposite in fact.

Simply for the sake of some journalistic integrity I would advise you to change your title.