Efforts of lawmakers to buy votes in midwestern states are hitting taxpayers in the wallet. A report by the accounting firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC) last month calculated the full impact of the congressional directive pouring ethanol into the gas tanks of Americans. This crony capitalist corn scheme drives up prices not just at the pump but at the drive-through as well.

The analysis commissioned by the National Council of Chain Restaurants concluded the federal government’s Renewable Fuel Standard would increase the cost of eating out by $3.2 billion every year. Under this mandate adopted in 2005, an arbitrary and increasing amount of ethanol must be sold each year. It’s a policy guaranteeing a windfall for suppliers of the corn used to make this unnecessary fuel additive.