Video: Sen. Paul Assails the Democrats’ Plan to Increase Gas Prices, Proposes Gas Tax Holiday

Ever thought that oil company profits were the source of the high gas prices? You’d be wrong. For every gallon you buy the government makes over three times as much as the oil companies do in profits – and that’s just federal.

So Rand Paul, in a recent floor speech in the Senate, proposed a gas tax holiday for four months to help alleviate the costs to everyday citizens. Of course, he wants to set off the loss in revenue due to the holiday by ending foreign aid (a pet project of sorts for him), and notes it’s not a long term solution – as the real problem is skyrocketing inflation.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Sen. Rand Paul proposed a plan to reduce the burden on Americans facing ever-increasing prices at the gas pump. This amendment, which will be proposed to any energy bill that comes before the Senate, would eliminate the profit per gallon the federal government receives every time we fill up our cars, and will offset the loss in revenue with cuts to foreign aid.

Last week, oil company chiefs were called to testify in the House, where Democrats berated them for turning a profit on the product they offer consumers. While oil companies make an average profit of $0.07 per gallon of gas sold, the federal government collects nearly three times that in taxes. The Democrat solution to this is to raise taxes on the oil companies – a cost that will undoubtedly be passed on to consumers.

“Eliminating the federal gas tax passes on a $0.184 saving per gallon to consumers. Raising taxes on the companies that provide this product would have the opposite effect,” Sen. Paul said. “The only real solution to this problem in the short term is to eliminate the government’s cut and pass the savings on to consumers.”

While some worry that eliminating this tax will lead to a decrease in revenue for the Highway Trust Fund, Sen. Paul has a solution for that as well: “Every dollar that is lost in the highway trust fund from the gas tax holiday will be replaced by cuts in foreign aid and in corporate welfare,” he said.