Arguably, we are already paying a “massive tax”, just not directly at the pump. The government has borrowed trillions of dollars to conduct military activities in places where “we have a vital economic interest”. Even beyond the Iraq war, in times of relative peace we operate bases throughout the Middle East and patrol the waters with warships. You do pay for that in your income tax (or at least you will someday when the bill comes due). I would guess that oil would be a LOT more expensive if the US military didn’t intervene so agressively to ensure its accessibility.

In addition there is the matter of inflation. It has been shown by many people (so I won’t go through the exercise) that monetary devaluation is an insidious kind of tax. The government takes purchase power from your wages and savings and spends it. Yes, we have explosive dia…, er, um, I mean a massive tax.