From The "World's Dumbest Ideas" File

From Wisconsin, comes one of the worst proposals I've ever heard- A tax on oil companies, that, get this- can't be passed on to the consumers. (I bring you this story via OpinionJournal.com.) According to the report,

Oil company officials would face up to six months in jail if they passed the tax on to consumers. The state Department of Revenue would audit the firms to ensure they do not.

Considering the way oil prices rise and fall, and the myriad of complexities behind these price changes, can anyone explain to me how it could ever be legally shown- in a criminal, beyond a reasonable doubt context no less- that an oil company passed the costs of a tax on to consumers. Forget about any of the Constitutional concerns for a minute - has there ever been a more wretched example of political pandering?