The tax increase we all accept

Gas now costs more than a gallon of milk. In some cities more than a gallon of organic milk. (AP Photo)

Sometimes America feels like a country on the edge,
always outraged about something. Guns, gay marriage,
birth control, insurance mandates and definitely taxes.

But there is one outrage that trumps them all, and
which we have quietly accepted, the steady increase in gas
prices.

Which amazes me because gas is something we all have to
buy. We live under an individual gas mandate. If you
draw breath, you must pay for gas even if you don’t drive
because everything you buy is delivered by some vehicle
that burns gas.

So gas is like a tax.

Now we know what would happen to a politician who even
hunted at increasing a tax, right? You can’t even close
a tax loophole.

And yet if you look at the last four years, since the
end of 2008, when the recession sent gas prices down to
$1.61 a gallon, during a period when incomes have barely
increased at all, the price of gas has increased 246
percent. It now costs more than a gallon of milk. In
some cities more than a gallon of organic milk.

And yet no riots, no anti-gas Tea Party demonstrations,
no ripping up of credit cards, no truckers circling the
capitol.

In fact, yesterday when I found gas for $4.17 cents a
gallon, I celebrated because it’s 4.29 at my neighborhood
station.

I only had to drive 20 miles.

Yes, we will pay any price, bear any burden, even if
it’s a tax…as long as you don’t call it one.

Gas Map: Find the lowest priced
gas around Puget Sound

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