Part of the picture , for sure . But taxing is a form of subsidies too tax breaks exists . It is all about what industry is supported and encouraged to be used and what is not . If you tax everything else but don ' t tax one area you are in effect subsidizing it , giving it better chances to succeed by cutting costs . So no matter how you look at it , USA supports oil production , sale and use and this makes the gas prices to stay low , in order to gain competitive edge . It is a form of socialism as that cheap gas WILL be offset elsewhere in the system and that usually comes from . taxes . So whether you take away less or give more , it is same net effect to the corporation . Oil HAS TO BE taxed heavily , now ! USA gas prices should be at least double of what they are and public transportation needs total overhaul . Cheap gas keeps personal transportation as # 1 means of moving around and we just can NOT keep lugging 4 tons hulks of metal to transport 80 kg of human tissue at speeds that are not efficient . You want speed get in a tube with bunch of other humans . Want freedom ? It ' s electric , small and slow . It WILL happen , it is not anymore case of if , it is a must . Oil subsidies are one of the worst roadblocks for any kind of actual , concrete action on climate change . Did you know that at this very moment , the temperature on arctic is 20 C warmer than it should be ? And how that might just fucking mean the ice melts NEXT YEAR . It is all about jet streams now and does the arctic get any ice cover on the ocean , if not . that is it fuckers we have NO clue what is going to happen next but whatever it is , there is HUGE amounts of energy now stored on the north pole . Sorry for going off tangent but that was such a cheap shot at bringing taxes in the question that i decided to vent a bit , it is NOT ok to vent but i did it anyway .