U.S. President Barack Obama is requesting an end to all tax subsidies for gas and oil companies.
April 27, 2011- The President asked Congress to end immediately all the tax subsidies that the oil and gas companies are enjoying. In his letter to the leaders of both the Democrats and Republicans he called on them to take immediate action and eliminate the more than $4 billion in tax breaks that these companies are taking advantage of.
The money saved could be put towards new technology in the effort to reduce the cost of fueling the country. This is not the first time he has called on Congress to roll back the tax breaks, he called for this for the last two years but he is making this a priority as fuel prices continue to rise and are becoming a big political liability for him.
A recent poll shows that 40% of those that think gas prices have caused a serious financial hardship approve of his job performance while over 60% of independents that have been hit by the high gas prices say they will not support the re-election of Obama.
The average price of gas climbed to $3.88 nationwide and six of ten polled said they have cut back in some fashion the amount of driving they do and seven in 10 said the high fuel prices are causing a hardship.
The gas prices are now the highest they have been since August of 2008 and if they remain that high, they will have an impact on the economy and that is what the president is trying to avoid.
