Bush: Higher Gas Prices "Like a Tax"

During a press conference the other day George Bush said that higher gasoline prices were "like a tax."

Horsehockey. If they were a tax, then that money would be going into some public coffer somewhere, ostensibly to benefit the public in some way or another. Instead, these monies are going into the pockets of the big oil corporations. I doubt that this money will be used any time soon to build or fund a road, bridge, school or hospital.

Looking at this from the other end of the telescope, this could also be seen as a way to demonize all taxes as bad, which is also foolishly simplistic. Taxes are necessary. Instead of talking about tax 'relief' we should all be talking about tax wisdom....how to levy taxes in the best and fairest way and how best to spend that money for the benefit of the most people.