Instead of suspending the gas tax for the summer, what if the FEDs give a tax break for renewable energy?

And take the fed gas tax and put the entire amount toward research for alternative fuels sources. That way there would be funding for research for renewable energy, and rebates for folks who actually save the environment and use less gas. Currently we have no incentive to save gas, other than the pocket book, and as soon as the price of gas goes below $3 everyone will be buying Hummers again. When demand goes down, so will the price....

Public Comments

1. Because renewable energy won't drop the cost of gas at the pump and that is what we need because even the price of groceries is affected by high gas prices.
2. The entire point of suspending the gas tax is to help lower income families who can't afford to go out and buy a brand new hybrid car or put money into renewable energy research. They drive farther to work on average and usually drive older cars which use more gas.
3. you cant be serious..that would make sense..i need votes so i will save every american 30 dollars this summer and give you tax cuts also...forget our debt, more war, lack of education, gas prices...i will borrow more from China and protect our freedoms...i dont want iraquis swimming over here...McBush in 08 for more of the same
4. By renewable energy do you mean something like Corn for ethanol? The only problem with that is when we use food to make motor vehicle fuel then the cost of food skyrockets. A more effective way to solve the problem is to use that tax to pay to convert automobiles to run on natural gas. Natural gas sells for approximately 60 to 70 cents per gallon energy equivalent for an amounat of natural gas that has the energy content of one gallon of gasoline. Even in high cost states like California natural gas sells for $2.50 for an amount of natural gas with the energy content of one gallon of gasoline. Most people would be delighted to pay the lower cost of natural gas. However it does cost several thousand dollars to convert an automobile to natural gas. If we had a way of subsidizing the cost of the conversion so that poor people did not have to pay several thousand dollars up front, many people would switch to natural gas. That wold reduce the demand for gasoline immediately. In turn the reduced demand would lead to lower gasoline prices.
5. Because lowering the cost of gas would effect more people and that is what this is about. I am not against the idea but if the election was not coming up soon I don't think any one would have brought this up.
6. gas tax for the summer is a joke...let's see what the price will really be in the summer
7. No, let the market decide which technology is the best. High gas prices force people to use less gasoline; already demand for gas is decreasing in the US. High gas prices are an incentive for many people to use less gas. And what about our nation's highways? That gas tax is for fixing and building highways. If you want to put solar panels on your home, then do so; don't ask the govt for a handout. Ethanol from corn has been a disaster; it is a scam, a hoax. A Gallon Of Gas And The Ethanol Hoax By Thomas D. Segel April 25, 2008 http://www.gopusa.com/commentary/tsegel/2008/ts_04251.shtml
8. Demand for gas is down in the U.S.A. by 17% compared to the same time last year. In 2006 I carried a petition for just 3 cents of every dollar of the oil producers profit to go to "alternative energy development" and it was defeated by the Oil Producers advertising campaign warning that the cost of gas would jump dramatically if it passed. Well-I knew that it was going to anyways. Without funds to produce alternative energy the Oil Producers are safe to gouge us to their hearts content. Our tax dollars are in part going to "subsidize" those poor Oil Producers still regardless of their record breaking profits. That money could be better used towards alternative energy. But then Bush doesn't want to hurt his rich supporters.
9. They already give tax breaks,and subsidies for "alternative energies",and "renewables" As a result the entire third world is already facing the prospect of unaffordable food,or food shortages. While we sit on hundreds of billions of barrels of Oil we refuse to drill for,they will starve so we can put the food they could have gotten in our fuel tanks. What an ingenious idea!!(Note Sarcasm) Windmills are another of those great ideas,that would take millions of acres of Windmills to produce perhaps 10% of our energy needs? While killing scores of Migratory Birds. Again,Genius!!(Sarcasm) Meanwhile real "alternatives",like Nuclear Energy are utterly ignored. Does it come with it's own problems? Of course,but they are problems we can more readily deal with,with a much smaller impact on the rest of the world. Forget the Propaganda,the truth is with current technologies Nuclear Energy is much more reliable,and safer than in the past. Which is why so many other countries get a huge portion of their energy supplied through Nuclear Power plants. AD