The Hill News

Although the so-called "Great Recession" officially ended in June of 2009, unemployment moved back up to nine percent in April and sixty-two percent of Americans still have a pessimistic outlook on the economic prospects of the nation according to the latest Gallup survey. Given the fragile state of the economy, rising energy prices and widespread negative sentiment about the economy, the last thing the country needs is a new and hidden tax on the cars they drive. And yet, that is exactly what is likely to happen.

In a recent press event, President Obama said “this fall, we’ll announce the next round of fuel standards for cars that builds on what we’ve already done.” To recap, what the President has “already done” was force a fuel economy mandate, known as the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE), on U.S. automakers. And while the President insists this was done coo! peratively, it is worth noting that at the time the government! was in the midst of bailing out Chrysler and General Motors, which is hardly a position to push back against an arbitrary and punitive federal mandate. 

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