GM CEO Wants $1 per gallon Gas Tax Hike

The joke will be on you!

Detroit MI, Jun 10, 2011. Government Motors CEO Dan Akerson wants the federal gas tax boosted as much as $1 a gallon to move consumers toward more fuel-efficient cars.

Akerson was installed as GM's CEO by U.S. President Barack Hussein Obama, D-Kenya, in late 2010, after Obama fired the previous CEO  Edward Whitacre.

Obama hand picked Akerson from one of his Corporate Sponsors, The Carlyle Group, to run GM in an environmentally friendly way.

Akerson, a firm believer in Obama's plan for higher taxes, says he would like to see the government step up to the challenge by setting a much  higher gas tax, as part of a comprehensive energy policy. But he opposes forcing GM to build more fuel efficient cars.

A government-imposed tax hike, Akerson believes, will prompt more people to buy small cars and do more good for the environment than forcing automakers to comply with higher gas-mileage standards.

"There ought to be a discussion on the cost versus the benefits," he said. "What we are going to do is tax production here, and that will cost us jobs."

For the years 2017-25, federal officials are considering 3 percent to 6 percent annual fuel efficiency increases, or 47 mpg to 62 mpg. That could boost the cost of vehicles by up to $3,500.

"You know what I'd rather have them do — this will make my Republican friends puke — as gas is going to go down here now, we ought to just slap a 50-cent or a dollar tax on a gallon of gas," Akerson said. 

"That's my boy!"

"People will start buying more Cruzes and they will start buying less Suburbans."

Both Akerson and Obama are opposed to allowing any new oil drilling in US territory that could reduce the cost of gas by increasing supply.

Any increase in oil supplies could have a negative impact on prices and reduce profits for big oil companies and Islamic nations in the middle east.