U. S. Rep. Mac Collins has introduced a bill to rescind a 4.3 cent per gallon gasoline tax.

“With a fill-up at the gas pump draining more and more of a worker's wallet, it is time for Congress to provide relief to consumers,” Collins said as he introduced the legislation. “Congress has the power to help offset the rapidly increasing costs that are being imposed on working Americans, and we must act now. “

The Fuel Tax Cost Reduction Act “expands on legislation I have introduced in the past by repealing the 1993 deficit reduction fuel tax as it applies to all modes of transportation,” Collins said.

“Mr. Speaker, this tax was included in the massive 1993 tax hike,” he said. “The purpose of this tax increase was to `reduce the deficit' during the time period when the old Congressional majority was regularly passing deficit-driven budgets that far outspent each year's tax receipts. Since that time, the Republican majority has taken action to balance the budget so that today the federal government is running a positive cash flow. The end of annual deficits should mean the end of `deficit-reduction' taxes.”

With world oil prices climbing and experts predicting that the price of gasoline will rise to least $2 a gallon, Collins said, American families need help. “And this is the kind of tax relief that will help working families the most,” he added in his remarks.

Collins' bill is a continuation of his opposition to the tax. In 1993, Collins opposed the entire tax hike package of which the gasoline tax was a part.