Gas Prices

Pardon the brief interruption of my usual movie talk and light hearted banter. Today, I am going to be a little more political than usual and I might even rant a bit. The topic: Gas prices and the Government.

Watching the politicians buzzing around Capitol Hill this past week has been alternately funny and disgusting. The finger pointing and lying has reached heights not seen since Bill Clinton was in office. Various Senators, including Kennedy and Frist, are acting as though this whole oil price quagmire is a big mystery—as though it came out of the blue. The disingenuous hand-wringing in Congress has led them to no real solutions but has brought them ever closer to a scapegoat: Big oil, especially Exxon Mobil.

While our representatives in Congress continue to collect heavy taxes on a product--all the while telling us how much they sympathize with the plight of the everyday man trying to buy gas--Exxon Mobil has been absolutely brutalized in the press and on the House floor.

Fact: Exxon Mobil makes 8-11 cents per gallon of gasoline sold.
Fact: The US Government makes in the neighborhood of .40 cents per gallon.
Fact: Add to that State taxes and the total tax is .47-.68 cents per gallon

That’s right, the US Government makes more money on a gallon of gasoline than big oil does. Add to this the additional 12-24 cents that the vampires in State Government are collecting and it boils down to this: Politicians that are persecuting Exxon and Big Oil are actually in your pocket for more money each and every time you gas up. The same bloodsuckers who claim they care deeply about the price you pay at the pump have refused to explore the option of reducing the tax they collect on it. That will be the very last thing option, believe me, reducing taxes is just not something that’s in their blood if they can help it.

What’s worse is that the path we have taken to get to this point is clear and chartable. You can blame militant environmentalists, Congress, Bill Clinton, your state Governor and more. Consider:

• We have not built a refinery in the country in 30 years


• We are not allowed to drill anywhere in the 48 states for this precious resource


• Congress approved drilling in ANWR when Bill Clinton was in office—he vetoed it


• Congress will not approve the same drilling today—the proposed exploration in thisAlaskan Refuge would be done in less than 1/10 of 1% of the reserve


• Environmentalist initiatives to add and subsequently remove all manner of additives to gasoline are directly responsible for the shortage experienced on the East Coast in the last week


• In New York, where we have a Republican Governor that believes himself to be a Democrat, we pay roughly .62 cents per gallon in taxes.

And what is the biggest idea, do you suppose, to have come from all this Congressional pseudo-sympathizing? Why, a new tax of course! Leave it to this gang of incompetents to find a way to make some more cash in the midst of this crisis by proposing a new tax that is nothing short of a communist idea. An “Excessive Profit Tax” is their big idea. Force Big Oil to either make less per gallon of gas or pay a huge tax on their profits. Brilliant. How is this going to lower gasoline prices? I suppose the thinking is that Big Oil will take the smaller profit margin just to spite the government and not pay the tax. Some choice given that profit margins on gasoline sales are already among the lowest in any industry.

Don’t listen to the lies Congress spouts about Big Oil, Exxon Mobil is not to blame for this mess. Write your representative and tell them it’s way past time to take the tax off gasoline. Tell them to drill in Alaska, tell them to lighten the absurd environmental restrictions that make it prohibitive to build new refineries. If you live in NY write to Vampire Pataki, the one who just vetoed property tax rebates while boasting about a budget surplus, and tell him to knock it off with the taxes.

Ask them to come up with any other solution to this problem. One that does not involve communist like profit taxes, one that does not penalize a company for simply being successful, one that actually helps.

More than that, ask yourselves what kind of elected official would pretend to sympathize with your plight while refusing to stop levying a tax on the very product you need to live and work. What kind of governor, a la NY, would veto tax rebates and remain mum on the gas problem at the same time? Remember this when Pataki decides to run for President under the guise of being a Republican because that, my friends, is in name only.

It’s way past time that Congress and State Legislatures were told to get their greedy hands out of our wallets. There’s a reason why their arrogance leads people like Joe Bruno to state that he would love to find a way to get some tax revenue on Internet purchases while his constituents are paying 3 bucks or more for a gallon of gas.

It’s our fault, really. We’ve allowed them to grow arrogant and complacent. We’ve done little or nothing to tell them we’ve had about enough. We’ve done nothing to tell them that cutting taxes should not be some last resort “Hope we don’t have to do it” option. We’ve done nothing to tell them that coming up with new and interesting taxes is out of the question.

I live in a State where a “Republican” governor has presided over large increases in nearly every fine or fee associated with Motor Vehicle—even coming up with some new fines. Where property tax and child tax credits are vetoed—all while in the midst of a budget surplus! Fiscal irresponsibility, lying and finger pointing have become the only skills these people have because we’ve let them get away with it.

And finally, try and remember that despite what the liberal media tells us, the news isn’t all bad: One of the causes of this fuel crunch is a humming and steadily improving economy. The solutions to the problem are attainable and plain as day—the only obstacle seems to be the unbridled greed in Washington and the instinctual “Blame someone, anyone” reaction that Congressmen get when faced with a problem. If we can eliminate the knee-jerk reactions (the first being to tax someone, the second to blame someone) we can find an answer here.