Where did YOU get that we are paying $2.39 in gas taxes?
If you read my post, you would see I was making a point about the price of oil - were it to be $40 per barrel, that would be 1/3 the current price. 1/3 of the current price of gasoline would be $1.20 (at least based on the price at the pump here).
But, as gas taxes total up to around 40 cents, and that is not reduced as the price of gas goes up or down, the price of gasoline would not be 1/3 the current price because of those taxes.
So I ask - what the heck were YOU thinking?
I now see the rest of your post and understand what you meant.
However, $40.00 a barrel is still too low of a price to sustain the domestic industry.