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The U.S. Oil & Gas Association (USOGA) fired back at Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., on Saturday night, rebuking narratives from Democrats in the deep blue state about gas prices, which include high state taxes.
“High gas prices in your district aren’t ‘Trump’s war’ — they’re Sacramento’s doing,” the X account run by USOGA President Tim Stewart wrote in a direct response to Khanna.
“California drivers pay nearly double the national average in state taxes, plus cap-and-trade, Low Carbon Fuel Standard, unique reformulated gasoline, refinery limits, and geographic isolation that blocks cheap imports,” he added. “That adds $1.00–$1.78+ over the U.S. average.”
Khanna was attempting to blame Trump for Saturday’s gas prices near his congressional office.
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“Trump’s immoral and reckless war in Iran has shot up gas prices in my district to nearly $6 a gallon,” Khanna wrote in a Saturday X post, sharing a video of him standing in front of a gas station price menu in his Santa Clara, California, district, blaming the “illegal and immoral war in Iran.”
“Stop the war, stop exporting our crude oil, and pass my windfall profits tax on Big Oil to give Americans a rebate for their gas bills,” he said.
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Stewart’s X post also rejected Khanna’s calls for a further “windfall profits tax on Big Oil,” saying history should be the guide and arguing windfall profits tax policies historically backfire.
“They don’t work,” the post read. “While you don’t call it a windfall profits tax, California recently passed one and called it a ‘wealth tax’ now you see high net worth individuals fleeing your state. History proves it backfires.”
In the post, USOGA cited the 1980 federal windfall profits tax reduced domestic production, increased imports and generated less revenue than expected before its repeal.
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“Your proposed windfall profits tax will do nothing to bring relief to your overtaxed and underappreciated constituents,” he continued. “Instead – suspend those state-level taxes first and bring California prices in line with the national average. Put your state bureaucracy on a diet. They could stand to shed a few pounds. Encourage California domestic oil and gas production and expand your refinery capacity instead of shutting it down. Stand up to your Governor. You know he is wrong and you can be on the right side of things.”
Khanna recently reintroduced the Big Oil Windfall Profits Tax Act, framing it as consumer relief.
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“Your repeated sponsorship of a new Big Oil Windfall Profits Tax Act would repeat the exact same mistake — shrinking U.S. output and raising costs,” USOGA’s post added.
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Stewart’s post concluded with a warning to end the war on oil and allow capitalism to bring costs down for consumers.
“Please stop shifting blame to ‘Trump’s war’ or federal policy while California’s own choices keep your constituents paying the highest pump prices in America,” the post finished. “Real relief comes from more American supply + streamlined permitting, not recycled 1980s taxes or more restrictions. Energy abundance, not rhetoric, lowers prices and bolsters U.S. and allied security.”
Energy Secretary Chris Wright also weighed in on the battle for lower gas prices in the high-tax states.
“President Trump got elected on an energy dominance agenda, and he got elected to represent 342 million Americans, every American in every state — including in California,” Wright wrote on X. “We don’t care what state you’re from; we want every citizen to have access to affordable energy.”
