Gas prices in the United States today are rivaling levels that haven't been seen since the crash of 2008.

The White House would love nothing more than for the country to believe that Putin's war against Ukraine is the sole reason for high gas prices. However, this is an outright lie.

Biden set America on this current course when he destroyed drilling permits, shut down pipelines, and gutted domestic energy production. To this very day, the president refuses to right these wrongs, despite multiple calls for him to do so.

Across the board, gas prices are out of control. However, it goes without saying that some states are worse off than others.

In the case of California, state Democrats are trying to increase taxes; meanwhile, gas prices in California are on the precipice of $10.00 per gallon.

Not a good move for California

Earlier this week, Kevin Kiley, a California GOP assemblyman, submitted commonsense legislation that would have suspended the state's gas tax. Other states like Maryland and Georgia have already done this.

However, California Democrats decided that axing the state's $0.51 gas tax wasn't a good idea, notwithstanding gas prices coming up on $10.00 per gallon.

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Instead, Democrats in the state took Kiley's bill and turned it into legislation that actually increases taxes on oil and gas companies. Naturally, this extra charge imposed upon these companies will get passed down to California residents.

At the rate things are going in California, it might not take much longer before gas prices actually eclipse $10.00.

Finally, to add insult to injury, Democratic lawmakers in California kept Kiley's name on the legislation, even after changing it from a gas tax elimination proposal to a hike tax proposal.

No hope for California?

Many businesses and residents have already left California, due to the unaffordable living costs, among other issues.

It goes without saying that a tax increase on oil and gas companies is the last thing that's going to provide relief to middle-class Californians.

To this day, it remains a mystery why California Democratic lawmakers shot down Kiley's bill to eliminate the gas tax. Across the country, gas tax elimination, in light of expensive gas costs, has actually garnered bipartisan support.