[OBXWanderer]

The U.S. government could slap higher taxes on gasoline to push up the price. But it’s tough to raise taxes in bad times, and President-elect Barack Obama already has said he does not want to do it.

ROTFLMAO

[OCCASparky]

The U.S. government could slap higher taxes on gasoline to push up the price.

When gas was over $4 a gallon, the profit per gallon the oil companies made STILL wasn't as much as what the state and federal governments made from each gallon of gas. Now that it's $1.50-1.60 here, were you to take those taxes away, gas would easily be below $1 per gallon in almost every place in the country. We've gone from taxes accounting for 12 percent of the cost of a gallon of gas or diesel to taxes now accounting for 35-40 percent of the cost.