For somebody who is closer to the edge, that bump in fuel prices is going to trickle into everything they consume, and when the transit costs of the product are a bigger proportion of the total cost of the item, that's got real impact on their buying power.

Plus, it's never just gasoline that goes up. Gasoline, you could just cut back on non-essential miles. But gas goes up, and heating oil follows - and you can't stop paying the oil bill when it's 0 F outside, unless you want to freeze yourself, and your plumbing. Then your electricity rates go up because the fuel oil for the oil-burning plants that backstop your eco-friendly, weather-dependent renewable electric energy when the sun isn't shining and the wind's not blowing, goes up.

And you can bet your bippy that once they jack the tax up, it won't come back down easily.

Seems like a stupid move when the Saudis are trying to hurt our domestic oil production in a price war.

Exactly why they want to do this. Tax the difference and keep the price constant because they know a raped consumer will keep paying it.