To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to temporarily suspend certain fuel excise taxes for fuel separated during periods in which the national average price of gasoline exceeds $3.99 per gallon, and to prohibit certain credits or deductions for oil and gas companies during such periods.

1) What happened: On April 30, 2026, Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-PA) introduced HR 8600 in the 119th Congress. The bill was referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means, the tax-writing committee. This is the earliest legislative stage — introduction only. No hearings, markups, or votes have occurred. 2) The money trail: The bill does not authorize or appropriate any funding. It modifies the Internal Revenue Code to create a conditional tax reduction mechanism. When the national average gasoline price exceeds $3.99/gallon in any month, the 18.4 cents/gallon excise tax on gasoline (and corresponding rates for diesel/kerosene) would be reduced by 1 cent for each cent the average price exceeds $3.99. The lost revenue to the Highway Trust Fund and Leaking Underground Storage Tank Trust Fund would be backfilled from the general fund — meaning general taxpayers absorb the cost. The offset comes from suspending the intangible drilling cost (IDC) deduction for oil and gas companies during those same high-price periods, increasing their tax burden. 3) Structural winners and losers: The bill creates a split effect within the oil and gas value chain. Downstream refiners and marketers ($PSX, $VLO, $MPC) benefit from lower excise tax payments during high-price periods, reducing their cost of goods sold. Upstream producers ($XOM, $CVX) lose the IDC deduction, increasing their effective tax rate on US production. Integrated companies with both upstream and downstream exposure ($XOM, $CVX) face offsetting effects — the net impact depends on the relative size of their US upstream drilling programs versus their US refining/marketing volumes. 4) Competitive landscape: The bill's trigger price ($3.99/gallon) is a political threshold. As of early May 2026, the national average gasoline price would need to be verified from real data — but the mechanism is designed to activate during periods of high fuel prices, when consumer pain is greatest. The general fund backfill protects infrastructure trust funds from revenue loss, shifting the fiscal burden to general taxpayers rather than highway users. 5) Timeline: The bill faces a long and uncertain path. It must pass the House Ways and Means Committee, the full House, the Senate Finance Committee, the full Senate, and be signed by the President. With a Democratic sponsor in a divided 119th Congress (Republican House majority, Democratic Senate), the probability of passage in this session is very low. No companion bill has been introduced in the Senate.