Californians pay BY FAR the highest prices at the pump for gas at the pump. Last fall, California motorists were paying $2.60 a gallon above the national average – the equivalent of a $30 tax per fill-up.

Governor Gavin Newsom doesn’t blame the obvious cause – the state’s high gas taxes and an anti-fossil fuels regulatory framework that intentionally raises costs of oil and gas production. Instead, he blames “greedy” and “price-gouging” oil companies. Is Exxon more greedy in California than in other states?

Newsom wanted a windfall profits tax, but even the legislature dominated 2 to 1 by his fellow Democrats saw the folly of that. Instead, he signed into law this week a watered-down bill requiring energy companies to submit vast amounts of data to the California Energy Commission. Newsom freely admits the purpose of this is to impose an excess profits tax on oil and gas producers.

So Gavin, if your plan is to impose higher taxes on the oil companies, how is that going to bring gas prices DOWN?