Amendment to the National Energy Act [Passed]

[Verily]

Amendment to the National Energy Act

Section one of F.L. 3-3 shall be amended to read: The responsibility for the approval of oil refinery construction shall be taken away from the Department of Treasury and given to the Environmental Protection Agency.

Section two shall be amended to read: The environmental regulations shall be made more strict to allow for more difficult approval of refineries.

Section four shall be amended to read: Sport Utility Vehicles shall not longer be classified as sedans for purposes of CAFE 2 standards. They shall be classified as a light truck.

Section six shall be amended to read: The Federal Gasoline Tax shall be increased from 12 cents per gallon to 18 cents per gallon.


(Sponsor: Bacon King)

[Sensei]

Sounds pretty good, but the people won't like the raise in gas prices.

[Kaine for Senate '18]

I urge Senators to support this legislation, despite the tax increase.

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

Sounds pretty good, but the people won't like the raise in gas prices.

I motion to amend by striking the section reading:

Section six shall be amended to read: The Federal Gasoline Tax shall be increased from 12 cents per gallon to 18 cents per gallon.

The Senate just passed a MASSIVE tax hike on gas as part of the Carbon Tax Act—a section I did not touch with my Carbon Tax Relief bill.  Another six cents on top of that is flat out unwarranted.

The Senate never should have cut that tax (crumbling infrastructure, anyone?), but that mistake has already been fixed.

[Speed of Sound]

The people in my region will not stand for the tax hike! Tractors and other large farming machinery take gas at a rate that is too high for me to find this acceptable. Its hard enough to turn a profit in agriculture these days! The rest of this bill is a great contribution to Atlasia's move to the Green Side, although I wish I could place more trust in the EPA....

[Sensei]

I will be voting in the affirmative on Moderate's amendment, because this is solid legislation otherwise.

[Ebowed]

I strongly support the "tax hike" (lol) and will vote against the amendment.

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

Just to explain the clarify the effects of the Carbon Tax:

Federal Gas tax, 2007: 12 cents
Federal Gas tax + Carbon tax, 2008: 17 cents
Federal Gas tax + Carbon tax, 2009: 22 cents
Federal Gas tax + Carbon tax, 2010: 27 cents
Federal Gas tax + Carbon tax, 2011: 32 cents
Federal Gas tax + Carbon tax, 2012: 37 cents
Federal Gas tax + Carbon tax, 2013: 42 cents
Federal Gas tax + Carbon tax, 2014: 47 cents
Federal Gas tax + Carbon tax, 2015: 52 cents
Federal Gas tax + Carbon tax, 2016: 57 cents
Federal Gas tax + Carbon tax, 2017: 62 cents

(Calculation basis: 1 gallon of gas = approx 20 pounds (1/100 tonne) CO₂.)

This, of course, does not take into account state, regional, and/or local gasoline taxes.

[Speed of Sound]

Ebowed, look at thos Carbon Tax numbers. For now, some Atlasians simply cant afford to switch. Constantly adding onto thier gas prices only puts them deeper in the hole, and less likely to ever be able to go green. The Carbon tax will allow for it to be taken out slowly, but you gotta let it do its job. Theres no need to strain Middle Class Atlasian wallets on this issue, especially when it will take us further from our goal.

[Ebowed]

Theres no need to strain Middle Class Atlasian wallets on this issue, especially when it will take us further from our goal.

If people were serious about not using gasoline, they'd make the necessary adjustments.

[Speed of Sound]

Theres no need to strain Middle Class Atlasian wallets on this issue, especially when it will take us further from our goal.

If people were serious about not using gasoline, they'd make the necessary adjustments.

Thats a horrible argument. "Theyll find a way" is the best you have? People in America are begging for government just to pay off debts, and I know, despite our lack of economic knowledge, that is a very similar situation here. You cant just say theyll get over it, because some of them wont.

[Ebowed]

I'm tired of some middle class scapegoat being used to stop all tax increases.  Atlasia hardly provides any social services and has dirt low income and estate taxes.  And frankly, I think the middle class does a lot better for itself than it is willing to acknowledge.

No one ever brings up the impact on poor people when we debate these various consumption taxes.  Anyone game?

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

I'm tired of some middle class scapegoat being used to stop all tax increases.  Atlasia hardly provides any social services and has dirt low income and estate taxes.  And frankly, I think the middle class does a lot better for itself than it is willing to acknowledge.

No one ever brings up the impact on poor people when we debate these various consumption taxes.  Anyone game?

Okay.  Since the tax on gasoline is one of the few taxes that the lower class is neither exempt from paying nor pegged to income, gasoline taxes are horrendously regressive.  Better?

[Jake]

Amendment to the National Energy Act

Section one of F.L. 3-3 shall be amended to read: The responsibility for the approval of oil refinery construction shall be taken away from the Department of Treasury and given to the Environmental Protection Agency.

Section two shall be amended to read: The environmental regulations shall be made more strict to allow for more difficult approval of refineries.

Section four shall be amended to read: Sport Utility Vehicles shall not longer be classified as sedans for purposes of CAFE 2 standards. They shall be classified as a light truck.

Section six shall be amended to read: The Federal Gasoline Tax shall be increased from 12 cents per gallon to 18 cents per gallon.

I make an amendment to strike the section about SUVs. Classifying them as light trucks exposes them to a lower gas mileage standard. That's not smart. Whatever is done, the 2 needs to be removed after CAFE.

I also propose a separate amendment to strike the sections on refinery construction. This is an extremely vague bill as currently written. No need to perpetuate the vagueness three years later.

[Verily]

We are now voting on the following amendment. Please vote Aye, Nay or Abstain.

I motion to amend by striking the section reading:

Section six shall be amended to read: The Federal Gasoline Tax shall be increased from 12 cents per gallon to 18 cents per gallon.

Aye

[Speed of Sound]

aye

[Sensei]

aye

[afleitch]

Aye

[Jake]

aye

[Verily]

Tally on Moderate's Amendment
Aye: 5 (Verily; Speed of Sound; Sensei; Afleitch; Jake)
Nay: 0
Yet to Vote: 5 (Bacon King; Ebowed; Friz; Moderate; Sam Spade)

[Ebowed]

Nay

[Sam Spade]

Aye

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

Aye, of course.

[Verily]

Result on Moderate's Amendment
Aye: 7 (Verily; Speed of Sound; Sensei; Afleitch; Jake; Sam Spade; Moderate)
Nay: 1 (Ebowed)
Abstain [Didn't vote]: 2 (Bacon King; Friz)

With seven in favor, the amendment passes.

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

Okay, next question: What's the rationale behind the "more difficult approval" of refineries part?