Republicans for a Planned Economy

*sigh*….another day in interest group hell

In a big win for U.S. ethanol producers, House Majority Leader John Boehner said on Monday he will not push legislation to reduce the U.S. tariff on ethanol imports.

U.S. oil refiners are scrambling to secure ethanol supplies to mix with gasoline this summer as they switch from using the water-polluting fuel additive MTBE. But the Energy Department has warned that U.S. ethanol supplies will fall short and refiners will need to rely on more imports.

Boehner, who is from Ohio, said last week that the United States was not producing enough ethanol to meet demand and that a temporary reduction in the 54-cent-a-gallon tariff could help boost available supplies and lower gasoline prices. When asked if there were enough votes in both the House and Senate to approve legislation lifting the ethanol tariff, Boehner told reporters: “I think it’s possible.”

However, House Speaker Dennis Hastert from the big ethanol-producing state of Illinois said later that he did not believe there was “an economic plus” in lifting the ethanol tariff “right now.” (emphasis mine)

Lemme get this straight: through a change in regulations, the government forced refiners to use ethanol as a substitute additive. That additive, which they would not have gotten if not for the new rule, is in short supply domestically. Yet the tariff on imported ethanol stays because one of the most powerful politicans here, coincidentally representing ethanol producers, thinks there’s no “economic plus”.

Gee, talk about painting yourself into a corner…

As people who actually care about these kind of things know, protectionist measures tend to function as a hidden tax. They artificially increase the price of foreign goods, & the extra cost, whether directly from the tariff itself or indirectly from the taxes on the higher price domestic competitors can get away with charging, ends up in the pockets of the government. So, with that in mind, I’d like any Republicans out there to answer a question: what’s the difference between Hastert’s arguement against cutting or eliminating the ethanol import tariff & what has been the Democratic Party’s arguement against cutting taxes elsewhere?

tags: US+politics, ethanol, energy+policy, trade+policy, protectionism, economics, gas+prices, Dennis+Hastert, John+Boehner, US+congress]]>