Multiple bills have been submitted in the House of Representatives aimed at providing stimulus checks to Americans to assist them to cope with rising gas costs. The plans are similar to the one that sent $1,400 stimulus checks to millions of people during COVID-19 last year.
For the past two weeks, the national daily average has been over $4 per gallon. On Monday, it was $4.25, down seven cents from a week ago but still 72 cents more than a month ago and $1.37 more than the same date last year.
Will Americans Receive Round 4 Of Stimulus Checks?
Reps. Mike Thompson of California, John Larson of Connecticut, and Lauren Underwood of Illinois have proposed sending an energy refund of $100 per month for individuals or $200 per month for couples, plus $100 for each dependant, for each month that the national gas price reaches $4 per gallon. The refund would last until 2022.
The payments would be made based on an individual’s income and would follow the same parameters as the 2021 stimulus checks: single filers earning up to $75,000 and married couples filing jointly and earning up to $150,000 would be eligible. The plan does not utilize the national gas price average as a benchmark.
However, it does mandate that households receive a monthly advance tax credit, similar to the monthly child tax credit that was implemented last year. The stimulus check funds would come from a levy on oil firms for “excessive corporate profits,” as DeFazio puts it. The magnitude of the payments to Americans would be determined by the amount of money generated by the oil company tax. A plan filed on March 10 targets major oil firms as well, but it also calls for quarterly payments to Americans who match the same income levels.
Large oil corporations that produce or import at least 300,000 barrels of oil per day, or did in 2019, would be subject to the additional levy.
