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Pittsburgh: US Republican presidential hopeful John McCain proposed a summer gas tax reduction and other tax cuts on Tuesday in a bid to reassure voters he would help them navigate an ailing economy.
McCain, the expected Republican nominee for the November election, proposed the steps to boost the struggling US economy, which has surpassed the Iraq war as voters' top concern.
On the day when US income taxes are due, McCain proposed a simpler tax code and a phaseout of the alternative minimum tax, which has increasingly snared middle-class taxpayers along with the wealthy.
With gasoline prices climbing, he asked Congress to suspend the 18.4 cent federal gas tax and 24.4 cent diesel tax from the Memorial Day holiday at the end of May to Labour Day in early September. "The effect will be an immediate economic stimulus - taking a few dollars off the price of a tank of gas every time a family, a farmer or trucker stops to fill up," he said.
Plans for oil reserve
McCain also said he would suspend US purchases of oil for the emergency stockpile known as the Strategic Petroleum Reserve because he believes the purchases are contributing to higher gas prices.
McCain proposed relief for student loans and a doubling of the tax exemption for dependents to $7,000 (Dh25,718) among other measures.
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