Washington's Take is Now More than Wall Street's

I know the point you are trying to make but the actual numbers are different. Oil companies have to imbed taxes they pay into the price when they sell it, so your numbers are actually fairly accurate. Government will make 40 cents for every gallon of gas sold even if it costs a dollar. An oil company will hold 5-9 cents of that gallon of gas sold at the price of a dollar as profit. The United States federal excise tax on gasoline is 18.4 cents per gallon (cpg) and 24.4 cents per gallon (cpg) for diesel fuel. On average, as of April 2012, state and local taxes add 31.1 cents to gasoline and 30.2 cents to diesel for a total US average fuel tax of 49.5 cents (cpg) per gallon for gas and 54.6 cents per gallon (cpg) for diesel.