Who's Gouging? Tax Prof points out that the main source of high gasoline prices isn't oil company profits: [T]he biggest beneficiaries of gasoline sales are federal and state governments, not the oil industry. [F]ederal and state taxes on gasoline production and imports have been climbing steadily since the late 1970s and now total roughly $58.4 billion. Due in part to substantial hikes in the federal gasoline excise tax in 1983, 1990, and 1993, annual tax revenues have continued to grow. Since 1977, governments collected more than $1.34 trillion, after adjusting for inflation, in gasoline tax revenues—more than twice the amount...