Letter: Stop gas taxes

Sen. Orrin Hatch should be congratulated on his nomination victory. It was good to see him return to more conservative values in order to win. Like most people, I would like to see Congress get some things done to cut wasteful spending, reform entitlements and get our economy going. I am worried about how we'll get there.

One of the bright spots in our economy is growing U.S. production of oil and gas. Since it takes a long time to develop these resources, most of the growth has been underway for a long time and has come despite a hostile Obama administration. It seems like every time we turn around, Democrats are calling for higher taxes on oil and gas produced in this country.

Not only will higher taxes raise prices at the pump, it will make it harder and more expensive to explore and produce fuels here at home. If Hatch returns for a seventh term, he will have an important role in trying to repair the federal budget. I hope he will not give in to the "easy" short-term fix of hiking taxes on a fragile economy, especially one of its few bright spots.

Paul M. Chesley

Layton