Clinton Copies Crazy McCain Plan that Fails to Add Up

As a confirmed independent voter who has been sickened by the last eight years of Republican mismanagement of our national resources and the squandering of our collective treasure with the aim of enriching a few, I had decided that either of the two remaining Democratic Party candidates would make a decent president. John McCain, alas, seems to have gone over to the dark side with his sudden change of heart about the disastrous Bush tax cuts and his ridiculous "economic stimulus" of eliminating the federal gasoline tax for the summer. But now Hillary Clinton seems to be caught up in the McCain insanity (see Did John McCain Lose His Mind? by Wayne Howard on Associated Content) as she echoes this ridiculous proposal. This leaves only Barak Obama who seems able to do the math and reach the inescapable conclusion that the problem is not with the tax but with the cost of the gasoline itself.

In a media event Hillary hitched a ride to a gas station in a pickup truck driven by a workingman and after the gas was pumped she loudly proclaimed that it came to sixty-three dollars for just about a half a tank. Let's do the math. The current average price of gasoline in Indiana is $3.66/gal. (www.gaspricewatch.com) and the federal tax is $0.184/gal. At this price, the amount of gas purchased was 17.213 gal. This means that the tax on that purchase was $3.16. So without the tax that same half a tank would still have cost almost $60. As Obama rightly acknowledged, the tax is a pittance. Eliminating the tax would have virtually no impact on the grievous burden the current high cost of gasoline is having on ordinary working people.

Why is the cost of gasoline so high when every profit report by the big oil companies sets a new record? It seems that refinery output has been cut back, which reduces the supply and helps drive up the price. The timing is odd given the President's renewed call for drilling in ANWR. Look to the Oil Barons for the causes and leave the tax alone. After all, it pays for the maintenance of our federal highways.