Badnarik on High Gas Prices

Politicians are gouging American drivers at the pump, Badnarik says

Washington, DC — Angry about sky-high gasoline prices? Then blame the
politicians in Washington, DC, whose federal fuel tax has raised the
cost of fuel by 18 cents a gallon, Libertarians say.

“Uncle Sam is a greedy price gouger, and every American driver is one of
his victims,” says Michael Badnarik, Libertarian candidate for
president. “Ending the federal fuel tax would save consumers billions of
dollars and stimulate the economy in the process.”

As oil prices rocketed to a record $45 a barrel this week, and many
experts predicted that prices at the pump would soon follow suit,
analysts pointed to several causes for the crisis, including tight world
supplies, political crises in Iraq, Venezuela, and Russia, and even
impending hurricanes.

But one overlooked culprit in the debate over higher gas prices,
Badnarik says, is politicians.

“Congressional Republicans and Democrats have socked the American people
with an 18.4 cent-per-gallon tax on fuel,” he says. “Since neither
President George Bush nor Senator John Kerry has opposed this tax,
they’re accomplices in this highway robbery.”

Want to reduce gas prices even further? Then abolish state fuel taxes,
which average 24 cents a gallon, Badnarik noted.

“Ending state and federal gas taxes would slash prices by a whopping 42
cents, which would reduce the cost of fuel to about $1.50 a gallon,” he
said. “According to the American Petroleum Institute, Americans pay a
total of $72 billion a year in fuel taxes, which works out to $385 for
every licensed driver and $660 for every family.”

Badnarik urged Bush and Kerry to follow the example of the Florida
legislature, which just passed a bill cutting the state gas tax by 8
cents for the month of August.

“This measure is expected to save Floridians nearly $60 million in one
month,” he said. “If politicians in one state can end this tax for a
month, there’s no reason that politicians in Congress and every state
can’t eliminate it permanently.

“We may not be able to do much about market forces. But we can do
something about the political forces that are picking our pockets at the
pump. Let’s start by turning off the spigot, to stop fuel tax money from
flowing into Washington, DC.”