| schema:text
| - Stand up for the facts!
Our only agenda is to publish the truth so you can be an informed participant in democracy.
We need your help.
I would like to contribute
How much would Barack Obama $10-per-barrel tax on oil raise gas prices? 24 cents, Paul Ryan says
In an Aug. 11, 2016 tweet that was augmented with a bit of animation (a counter with rolling numbers), House Speaker Paul Ryan declared:
"President Obama’s proposed oil tax would cost consumers 24 cents a gallon."
That’s a flat declaration of a specific figure.
Let’s see if it’s on the money.
Ryan’s evidence
Sign up for PolitiFact texts
To back Ryan’s statement, his office cited a February 2016 article from MarketWatch.com, which reported on Obama’s proposal for a $10 tax on each barrel of oil to pay for "clean" transportation projects such as expanding mass transit. The article said the tax would be paid by oil companies and gradually phased in over five years.
To be clear, the article said the proposal "isn’t expected to go far." And in a news release Ryan issued the same day as his tweet, he said the tax is "dead on arrival in Congress."
The MarketWatch article quoted Patrick DeHaan, senior petroleum analyst at GasBuddy.com, as saying: "This proposal would trickle down and be a $10 per barrel tax on motorists -- or 20 to 25 cents per gallon on refined fuels. To me it’s clear: this is not something oil companies are going to absorb."
So, 24 cents is in the range of the analyst’s estimate. But it’s only one analyst; and his estimate is based on how he thinks oil companies would respond to a $10-per-barrel tax.
What the oil companies would do isn’t quite as certain as what Ryan claimed.
A trade group that should know, the American Petroleum Institute, warned the tax would "harm consumers." But it hedged a bit in saying the tax "could" raise the cost of gasoline by 25 cents a gallon.
Featured Fact-check
Economist Nicolas Loris estimated the cost slightly lower, at 22 cents, the Huffington Post said 22 to 24 cents, and the Washington Post said 24 cents. Politico and Forbes said about 25 cents.
One note: The federal government currently imposes a tax of 18.4 cents per gallon of gasoline. But that’s a direct tax on gas, not on the oil companies.
Our rating
Ryan said: "President Obama’s proposed oil tax would cost consumers 24 cents a gallon."
Estimates are in the 24 cents range for the $10-per-barrel tax that Obama proposed on oil companies. But it’s not a sure thing, if the tax became law, that all of the tax would be passed onto consumers.
We rate the statement Mostly True.https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/160d66f4-9b16-42c6-8bd7-c1c7d19868f1
Read About Our Process
Our Sources
Twitter, Paul Ryan tweet, Aug. 11, 2016
Speaker.gov, "news release, Aug. 11, 2016
Email, Paul Ryan spokesman Ian Martorana, Aug. 12, 2016
Email, White House spokeswoman Kaelan Richards, Aug. 12, 2016
MarketWatch.com, "Here’s how much Obama’s oil tax would add to the price of gasoline," Feb. 7, 2016
The Daily Signal, "Obama’s New Oil Tax Would Hike Gas Prices 22 Cents a Gallon," Feb. 5, 2016.
American Petroleum Institute, news release, Feb. 4, 2016
Browse the Truth-O-Meter
More by Tom Kertscher
How much would Barack Obama $10-per-barrel tax on oil raise gas prices? 24 cents, Paul Ryan says
Support independent fact-checking.
Become a member!
In a world of wild talk and fake news, help us stand up for the facts.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)