Stimulus checks for gas? Some lawmakers are pushing for it.

Americans were already facing scorching inflation when gas prices rose to an all-time high earlier this month. Now, some lawmakers want the federal government to offer incentive payments or discount checks to help reduce bomb pain.

Families with two children could earn up to $ 300 a month as long as the average price of gasoline in the country exceeds $ 4 a gallon, according to a new bill proposed by Representatives Mike Thompson of California, John Larson of Connecticut and Lauren Illinois Underwood. All three lawmakers are Democrats.

American consumers could see it an increase in costs of $ 2,000 this year due to the recent rise in gasoline prices, and this adds to the additional $ 1,000 in grocery store costs due to the sharpest rise in inflation since 1982. Consumers are already reporting that they are reducing spending or driving less, with most of the guilty stickers. bomb shock.

The gas stimulus “would offer middle-class Americans monthly payments to alleviate the financial burden of this global crisis,” Thompson said in a statement on the proposal, referring to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. raised gas prices.

Currently, millions of Americans would qualify for payments based on current gas prices, which averaged $ 4.24 a gallon on March 22, according to AAA.

While it is unclear whether any of the bills will move forward, the tension in U.S. households caused by high gas prices is clearly on the minds of lawmakers. Here’s how these proposals work.

$ 300 a month for families

Called the Gas Rebate Act, the bill proposed by Thompson, Larson and Underwood would provide a monthly energy discount of $ 100 per person. This rebate would start for the rest of 2022 as long as the national average gas price exceeds $ 4 per gallon for a given month.

Under the bill, joint and individual taxpayers will receive $ 100 each, while each dependent would also receive $ 100 each. In other words, a family with two children could receive up to $ 300 a month in discount checks.

The plan would work similarly to the three stimulus controls the federal government offered in 2020 and 2021, as payments would go to low- and middle-class households. Single people earning less than $ 75,000 a year will receive a total discount of $ 100, while checks will be phased out for people earning up to $ 80,000.

According to Thompson’s statement, joint taxpayers earning less than $ 150,000 would qualify, with the payment gradually eliminated up to $ 160,000 in family income. The proposal does not specify how the discount checks will be paid, and the text of the invoice has not yet been published.

$ 360 annual discounts for families

A second proposal by Rep. Ro Khanna, a Democrat from California, and Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democrat from Rhode Island, would offer a quarterly rebate to consumers based on a tax levied on oil and gas companies.

The tax on unexpected profits from big oil would charge a tax per barrel equal to 50% of the difference between the current price of a barrel of oil and its average price before the pandemic between 2015 and 2019, according to a statement from lawmakers .

The two lawmakers calculated that if the price of a barrel stood at $ 120, the tax would increase by about $ 45 billion a year, providing applicants with $ 240 a year and joint collaborators with $ 360 a year.

“As the Russian invasion of Ukraine raises gas prices, fossil fuel companies are making record profits. These companies have made billions and used the profits to enrich their own shareholders, while the The American media is hurting the bomb, “Khanna said in a statement.

Discounts based on oil company profits

A third proposal by Rep. Peter DeFazio, D.-Oregon, would create a rebate based on the oil company’s profits. It’s unclear how much Americans would receive because the plan is based on taxing this year’s profits for oil and gas companies.

“My legislation would tax Big Oil’s excess profits by 2022 and return revenue to Americans,” DeFazio said in a statement on the bill, called the Stop Gas Price Gouging Tax and Rebate Act.

DeFazio reported a report by control group Accountable.us found that the largest oil and gas companies were making record profits of $ 205 billion in 2021.

The Treasury Department will determine the amounts of the tax credit based on the revenue collected to tax the profits of the oil and gas companies. The bill proposes that large oil and gas companies pay a single 50% tax on any adjusted taxable income in 2022 that is greater than 110% of their average adjusted taxable income between 2015 and 2019, or previous years. to the pandemic, according to a statement from MP Underwood, who introduced the bill with DeFazio.

Like federal incentive checks, discounts would have income limits. Applicants earning less than $ 75,000 and earning jointly less than $ 150,000 a year could receive payments.

In:
• stimulus control
• gas prices
• Inflation