Don't tax home fuels, Boccieri urges

Ohio should not profit from the energy crisis, the state representative said.
COLUMBUS -- State Rep. John Boccieri of New Middletown, D-61st, plans to amend legislation introduced last week to exempt home heating oil, natural gas and propane from state taxes.
Boccieri said home heating fuels should be exempt from state taxes because the state should not profit from the energy crisis.
He said the state has a $500 million surplus; meanwhile, many consumers are forced to choose between turning up their home thermostats or putting food on the table.
He said he received many phone calls last week after the bill was introduced without home heating oil included. Boccieri said about 8.1 million of the 107 million households in the United States use home heating oil as their primary fuel source.
Skyrocketing costs
The U.S. Department of Energy forecasts that because of low supply and the natural disasters that hit the southern United States, home heating oil bills will be about 27 percent higher this winter, and natural gas and propane costs could be as much as 70 percent higher, Boccieri said.
The state lawmaker said the United States needs to increase the number of domestic refineries. He said the current domestic refineries have been "seriously derailed" in meeting the demand for heating oil by disasters such as Hurricane Katrina.
He said if the crude oil and refineries don't get back on line soon, consumers will pay more to keep warm in a cold winter, and gasoline prices also may soon increase again.
Boccieri said data released last week by the federal government show the price of a barrel of crude oil is hovering around $60, and the demand for gasoline, which fell when prices soared in September, is increasing again.