I've always argued that the easiest way for families to gauge the health of the economy is to check the daily gas price. Drivers see the 50-foot-high signs in every community in America. They stare us right in the face.
I call it the affordability index.
In recent weeks, gas prices have hit $4.50 a gallon nationally, and truckers are paying well over $6 a gallon.
That's a bad look with a month to go before midterm elections across the country. These high prices have put consumers in a bad mood.
It's worth mentioning that the average gas price while Donald Trump has been president is lower than the average price under former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden. But when it comes to affordability, voters ask: What have you done for me lately?
Why aren't Republicans in Congress doing anything about it? They could reduce gas and diesel prices by well over 50 cents a gallon through three easy reforms.
I checked with the experts at the Institute for Energy Research on a plan to lower gas prices, and here's the plan that would repeal the excessive regulation and taxation of gas and diesel.
Step 1. Immediately suspend the renewable energy and ethanol blending requirements at refineries. That saves 31 cents a gallon. There's no reason we should have to put corn in our gas tank.
Step 2. Temporarily suspend the 18-cents-a-gallon gas tax and the 24-cents-a-gallon diesel tax. When the gas price falls below $3.50 a gallon, the taxes can be reimposed.
Step 3. Permanently repeal the Jones Act, which makes the shipping costs of oil and diesel more expensive by at least 5 cents a gallon.
Add up the savings and we've just lowered gas and diesel prices by more than 50 cents a gallon.
Wait -- there's more the politicians can do. State gas taxes also add an average of about 33 cents a gallon. State legislators should slash those taxes until the gas price falls when the Middle East supply chains are unclogged.
The states with the highest gas taxes are almost all blue states. Californians pay about $1.25 a gallon more than the national average price at the pump because of the state's onerous regulations and high taxes. The Golden State's climate change policies alone add almost 50 cents a gallon to the price. This is a high price to pay for virtue signaling.
Sorry, Gov. Gavin Newsom. California can't change the temperature of the planet.
The taxes are also way above the national average in Illinois, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Massachusetts.
Yet the governors of these states are first in line to bloviate about the high gas prices that they helped create.
Some may complain that gas taxes are a user fee to pay for the roads. That's generally true, which is why the gas tax repeal should end when the price at the pump falls.
Every poll is showing that Americans are most concerned about affordability. Republicans can't do much about the quagmire of the Middle East. But they can bring prices down here at home starting tomorrow. What are they waiting for?
Stephen Moore is a former Trump senior economic adviser and the cofounder of Unleash Prosperity, which advocates for education freedom for all children.
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