Summer gas prices in Wisconsin are at record highs, accompanied by legislative gridlock on the issue at the state and national levels.
Gas prices in the state averaged $3.42 on Memorial Day, over 20 cents higher than the national average according to AAA Wisconsin.
It was only one cent less than the highest recorded price set on May 26 and was over 50 cents higher than the price of gas in the state a year ago. The highest price in the nation on May 21 was in Chicago at $3.59 a gallon, according to the Associated Press.
Gov. Jim Doyle has proposed a 2.5 percent gross receipts tax on the sale of oil companies in his new budget, which may generate over $270 million to pay for transportation services, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
""Big oil companies have been reaping huge profits on the backs of middle class families for years, reaching record profits while families across the country struggle to afford to fill up their gas tanks,"" Doyle said in a May 24 statement on gas price relief.
The tax is opposed by the state's largest business lobbyist group, Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce. According to the WMC website, the tax could also translate into higher prices at the pump for customers—up to 40 cents a gallon—the third highest in the nation.
However, Doyle spokesperson Carla Vigue said the tax on oil companies will not affect prices.
""The governor's proposal cannot be passed along to consumers,"" Vigue said.
Any increases in price or price gouging may be met with criminal penalties, according to Vigue. She said auditors at the Department of Revenue will be assigned with the sole job of watching the oil market and actions by oil companies in Wisconsin to detect incidences of price gouging.
Vigue also said that while the proposal's future is uncertain in the Republican-controlled state Assembly, supporters may be gained due to the pervasiveness of the problem.
""I think everyone can agree that gas is too high,"" Vigue said.
May 23, Doyle and 16 other governors sent letters asking Congress to force oil companies to lower prices and investigate potential incidences of price gouging.
Gas prices are an issue at the national level as well, with the U.S. House of Representatives passing the Federal Price Gouging Act of 2007 May 24. This bill would make authorities, such as the Justice Department, investigate companies or retailers that charge ""unconscionably excessive"" prices, according to the AP.
The bill was passed 284-141, but the White House has threatened to veto if it makes it past the Senate.
—The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and the Associated Press
contributed to this report
