Why a Federal Gas Tax Holiday Is a Terrible Idea

As gas prices stay stubbornly high across the country, President Donald Trump mused this week about suspending the fuel tax US consumers pay. The idea is also picking up steam in Congress, with Democratic and Republican lawmakers pushing for a gas tax holiday.

But experts tell WIRED that it’s unlikely that any rollback—even temporary—of the fee will save consumers much as the unofficial start to summer travel season nears.

“It's unlikely that oil prices, gasoline prices, diesel prices are going to fall back to where they were in February any time in the next couple months,” says Clark Williams-Derry, an analyst at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis.

The Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most crucial shipping routes and a chokepoint for both oil and gas supply and production, has remained effectively closed since early March, when the US and Israel ...