Obama will seek new US$10-per-barrel tax on oil, but opponents in Congress scoff

US President Barack Obama will launch a long-shot bid next week to impose a US$10-a-barrel tax on crude oil that would fund the overhaul of the nation’s ageing transportation infrastructure, the White House said on Thursday.

The proposed fee, which would be paid by oil companies and phased in over five years, was quickly met with scorn by lawmakers in the Republican-controlled Congress.

In the last year of his presidency, Obama has said the country must stop subsidising the “dirty” fossil fuels of the past and focus on clean, renewable fuels that do not exacerbate climate change.

“By placing a fee on oil, the President’s plan creates a clear incentive for private sector innovation to reduce our reliance on oil and at the same time invests in clean energy technologies that will power our future,” the White House said in a statement.

Set to be officially announced in Obama’s fiscal 2017 budget plan on Tuesday, the fee would provide nearly US$20 billion a year to help expand transit systems across the country and more than US$2 billion a year to support the research and development of self-driving vehicles and other low-carbon technologies.

Republican lawmakers, who have repeatedly clashed with the Obama administration over energy policy, panned the proposal on social media. House of Representatives Majority Whip Steve Scalise asked on Twitter whether the proposal was “Obama’s worst idea yet?”