In more April foolery, Donald Trump said his tax cuts would give Americans the biggest refunds ever and boost the economy (and we’d get even more boost if the refunds didn’t accrue mostly among higher-income taxpayers). But then he started a war of choice that will negate any refund stimulus by slurping up that cash at the gasoline pumps:
“An increase in gasoline prices, driven by this war, is essentially a new tax on consumers. So one way of thinking about it is this is offsetting some of the benefits that are coming from this tax cut bill,” [Oxford Economics chief economist Michael] Pearce said.
Those benefits will be completely offset if gas prices average around $3.60 a gallon over the course of this year, he added. Right now, gas prices are around $4 nationally — a three-year high and a psychological tipping point.
“If they remain there for the rest of the year, then we’re going to see that the increase in gas prices more than offset any boost to consumer spending from these tax refunds,” Pearce said.
That said, another way of looking at this is that the bigger refunds are helping people afford to spend more on gas. “It provides some cushion to this energy shock. Otherwise, the hit to consumers could be much deeper,” said Kathy Bostjancic, chief economist at Nationwide.
The problem with that argument is that people basically have to spend more money on gas right now, she said.
“My gasoline prices went up, so all of the extra money I got from the refunds is going into the gas tank instead of going out to dinner, or buying a gift, or going on vacation — things like that,” Bostjancic said [Justin Ho, “For Many, Bigger Tax Refunds Will Be Pumped into Gas Tank,” Marketplace, 2026.03.31].
American drivers use 375 million gallons of gasoline a day. A dollar increase in gasoline prices Ameans Americans spend $375 million more each day at the pump. 173 days—six months—of gasoline costing a dollar more than they did last year would completely wipe out the $65 billion in additional tax refunds that we’re supposed to get.
And you thought Trump would make your bank account great again… and keep us out of foreign wars. April Fool!
Gee, won’t all that government money lead to more inflation? Maybe it only works that way for Democrats.
MAGA seems almost offended when they see Trump “I did that” stickers on gas pumps.
Problem is that the situation now, caused by MAGA’s lord and savior DJT, is a _lot_ worse than Biden’s situation.
Thune, Rounds, Johnson: you awake? It’s BS that the US population has to go through this constant chaos and even more BS school girls are dying from an illegal war in Iran caused by us.
Your job is to make lives better now, not just it 50 years, now! We need stability NOW.
In 2024 South Dakota dropped to 49th in financial literacy and 50th in financial knowledge and education despite the Republican former governor’s pathological Pollyannaism. The state was the 43rd best economy in the US, 51st in percentage of businesses owned by women and 50th in innovation potential.
Today, the horrible red state has dropped to 50th in financial literacy and 51st in financial knowledge and education rank, 41st in innovation, 45th in human capital rank, 47th in innovation environment and 50th in share of technology companies.
Creighton University’s Ernie Goss has been warning that the Trump Organization is bad for American agriculture and follows the economies of several breadbasket states including South Dakota’s. Banksters are freaking out because the March Rural Mainstreet Index dropped to its lowest level since October 2025 and loan delinquency rates increased. Goss says it’s the 13th time since January of last year that the rural economy reading fell below the growth neutral threshold.
“The March RMI for South Dakota sank to 40.3 from February’s 47.2. According to trade data from the [International Trade Association], South Dakota exports of agriculture goods and livestock for the first month of 2026, compared to the same period in 2025, fell by 82.2%. Compared to the first month of 2024, the South Dakota exports of agriculture and livestock for the first month of 2026 sank by 39.9%.” [Mainstreet Economy]