The Free Market, price of gas, class warfare or socialism?

The state Senate here in Virginia has just voted to increase the gasoline tax by five cents over the next five years. This means that by 2014 the Commonwealth's "profit" on a single gallon of gas will be 22.5 cents (+2% sales tax in localities that are a part of the NoVa Transportation District). And that's just the state tax. The Federal gas tax is an additional 18.4 cents.

Gas Taxes (http://www.gaspricewatch.com/usgastaxes.asp)

The state Senate here in Virginia has just voted to increase the gasoline tax by five cents over the next five years. This means that by 2014 the Commonwealth's "profit" on a single gallon of gas will be 22.5 cents (+2% sales tax in localities that are a part of the NoVa Transportation District). And that's just the state tax. The Federal gas tax is an additional 18.4 cents.

Gas Taxes (http://www.gaspricewatch.com/usgastaxes.asp)

In fairness, the supply of gas to the public in a safe, uniform manner does involve some considerable expense by the government.

In fairness, the supply of gas to the public in a safe, uniform manner does involve some considerable expense by the government.

I didn't realize the federal government was supplying gas to the public. I thought that, you know, the companies that discovered, extracted, transported, refined, and again transported fuel products were the ones that took that risk.

A better response would have been:

"In fairness, nearly all gasoline taxes are used to pay for highway improvements, so we are actually getting a decent bang for our buck for THESE tax dollars."