US Implements Tax Holiday for Petrol

JAKARTA. The United States (US) government will provide tax exemption incentives or tax holiday for gasoline of US$ 18.4 cents per gallon.

Citing bbc.com, the gasoline tax exemption is a form of financial assistance in the midst of soaring commodity prices, including petrol.

The average price of petrol that Americans have to pay this year is US$ 5 per gallon. This amount is higher than the average price last year which was only US$ 3 per gallon.

Rising oil prices are considered to be the cause of the surge in inflation in the US, which reached a record high in nearly 41 years.

Meanwhile, quoting CNBCIndonesia.com, this price increase occurred due to the decline in oil production capacity in the country to 1 million barrels per day.

In addition, the armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine since February 2022 has also heated up world oil prices.

US President Joe Bidden said that giving a tax holiday would not solve the problems faced by the community. "It's just a little bit of breathing room," said Bidden, Wednesday (22/6).

However, this plan must get approval from the US parliament, which is likely to reject it. A number of lawmakers reportedly refused because they feared that oil companies and retailers would benefit.

In addition to pushing for gasoline tax holiday, the US government is also currently convincing oil companies to increase their production capacity, by operating idle refineries.