The Pros and the Cons has a short post that restates the not-so-common Common Sense.

I see these people on TV complaining about the price of gasoline and it is almost amusing. I wonder if the dealers hoodwinked them by telling them that their new car would run on rainbows and smiles.

Politicians are making lots of noise about fuel prices and how awful it is to have $2.60/gallon gas. Do you know how much of that is tax?

18.4 cents per gallon goes to the Federalis

State gas taxes are between 7.5 cents per gallon (Georgia) and 32.1 cents per gallon (Wisconsin). Some states also charge sales tax on gas and in some areas counties and cities have gas taxes on top of all of these other taxes.

On average, around 30% of the cost of gas is taxes. Compare this to the howling that is heard when a 23% Federal Sales Tax is proposed as an alternative to the Federal Income Tax.

Politicians can't control the market forces that got us to $2.60 gas, but they can lower the cost of gas by 30% today.

Why don't they?