Senators from across the political spectrum have come together to provide Americans with energy relief.
Americans who qualify will receive monthly payments to help with rising gas prices if they are successful.
A bill to that effect was introduced on March 10, The Sun report.
If Americans provide their bank account information to the IRS, the payment will be made directly to their bank accounts, just like the American Rescue Act stimulus checks.
The bill was introduced by California Representative Ro Khanna and Rhode Island Senator Sheldon Whitehouse.
The bill is co-sponsored by Senators Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Michael Bennet, and Sherrod Brown.
What Will Be its Funding Method?
Oil companies would be taxed in order to fund the energy relief checks.
The price difference between today’s oil price and the price of a barrel in 2019 would be used to calculate the tax for the funding.
As of last Friday, US oil was $109 a barrel. It reached $125 a barrel the week before.
Who Qualifies?
Single people with incomes below $75,000 will receive payments.
Married couples will receive payments if their income is less than $150,000.
According to current oil prices, singles would get about $240 per year and married couples $360.
Reasons for Proposing this Bill
To help relieve the pressure of rapidly increasing gas prices.
According to AAA, the average price of gas was $4.30 per gallon on March 16.
Due to the ban on Russian oil imports following the invasion of Ukraine, prices are expected to keep rising.
The six senators say oil companies are taking advantage of the situation overseas, even though it doesn’t help oil prices.
Oil companies, they say, are motivated to make record profits, and price increases are voluntary acts by these companies.
According to Khanna, the bill should bring down the prices of oil companies.
“The bigger thing is that it’s going to save everyone money,” she said in an interview, as reported by Business Insider.
“If you’re big oil, and you look at this, you’re not going to want to pay this tax, and so you’re going to be willing to lower prices.”
How Will Oil Companies be Taxed?
According to Business Insider, the new tax would only be imposed on large corporations like Exxon Mobil.
