Letters to the Editor
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Why don't people research before writing articles???
1. The federal gas tax is imposed at the refinery level, not at the pump. So it affects the price paid by the wholesaler.
2. There is a "crack spread" which is the difference between refinery input prices and the price they can sell their products for. Right now, the crack spread is extremely low, which is why refinery stock prices on Wall Street usually fall on the days that oil prices shoot upward.
3. Being businessmen, the managers of refineries would welcome the news "YOU (the refiners) don't have to pay a Federal gas tax this summer, thanks to Clinton/McCain".
4. Being businessmen, the managers of refineries would very, very likely sell their products to the wholesalers for the SAME price as before, thus keeping the money that would otherwise go to the tax man.
5. That would "widen the crack spread" and cause their beaten-down stock prices to go up.
6. Finally, because the refiners' earning have been so abysmal of late, no "windfall profit tax" would have much effect on them.
Conclusion: suspend the tax, make my shares of refiners stocks more valuable, probably no change in the RETAIL price of gas!!