As Sens. John McCain and Hillary Rodham Clinton pressed Thursday for suspension of the federal gasoline tax, economists, environmentalists and others roundly denounced the plan as a political stunt that would favor the oil industry rather than consumers.
Economists are "as close to unanimous as you can get" in viewing the proposal as a "horrible idea," said Joseph J. Doyle Jr., a Massachusetts Institute of Technology economist who has studied gas tax "holidays."
Voter frustration over soaring gasoline prices has led Republican McCain and Democrat Clinton to make the proposal an economic centerpiece of their campaigns for president. With gas prices nearing $4 per gallon in much of the country, the tax relief carries broad political appeal.
But economists and other critics have ridiculed the plan for a moratorium on the 18.4-cents-per-gallon tax, and newspaper editorial boards across the nation have cheered Clinton's Democratic rival, Sen. Barack Obama, for opposing it.
Philip K. Verleger Jr., a Colorado economist and author of "Adjusting to Volatile Energy Prices," called suspension of the gas tax "a hideously bad idea" that would let refinery owners keep some or all of the savings.
"My guess is 80% or 90% of the revenue loss for the government would go into the pockets of the oil industry -- and not trickle down to consumers," he said.
By encouraging consumption of gasoline, Verleger added, the proposal also contradicts commitments made by both Clinton and McCain to fight global warming and cut U.S. dependence on foreign oil.
"This is true pandering to voters without any consideration of the long-term interests of the country," he said.
Doyle, who co-wrote a study of state gas tax holidays in Illinois and Indiana in 2000, said results in those states suggested that suspension of the federal tax would save motorists 10 to 15 cents per gallon. The savings, however, would be "lost in the usual ebb and flow of prices," so an average motorist would reap perhaps $20 over the summer, Doyle said.
"For the usual person who fills up two or three times a month, it doesn't look like huge savings," he said.
Suspension of the tax from Memorial Day to Labor Day would result in a roughly $9-billion loss to a federal highway trust fund.
Clinton has called for a windfall-profits tax on oil companies to make up for the loss. McCain has vowed to replenish the highway fund with other tax revenue, but a spokesman for his campaign declined to say what spending would be cut to preserve the roads program.
