Gas prices...
CA gas-prices, for several reasons, are not necessarily indicative of the nation as a whole. CARB (California Air Resources Board) regulations for specialized fuel-blends, plus the notoriously high CA taxes and costs of doing buisness, create a limted market for CA fuel that is not cost-effective, and needs higher selling prices to make a profit. In many other areas of the country (even here in the fairly-expensive D.C. area), regular is now down to substantially below $4.00.
Last edited by mmarshall; May 16, 2012 at 08:53 AM.
One reason gas is cheaper here is of course the lower transportation costs. Most of our motor gas comes from refineries along the Houston Ship Channel. Of course the crudestock comes from South and West Texas, as well as the Gulf.
The largest reason for our lower fuel prices - as it is everywhere - is lower fuel taxes. As of last July, Texas and Louisiana were charging drivers for 38.4¢ per gallon, in Massachusetts, you're paying a bit more at 41.9¢, while California, with the highest fuel tax in the nation was charging a whopping 71.9¢ per gallon, figuring 18.4¢ of those totals is the federal excise tax that everyone pays. Believe it or not, the taxes on diesel actually run about 6¢ to 8¢ more per gallon across the nation than that for mogas. Your friendly neighborhood pump jockey is actually a tax collector now, handing off about 20% of your payment to the state and federal government.
http://www.api.org/oil-and-natural-g...xes-report.pdf - scroll to page 2.
The largest reason for our lower fuel prices - as it is everywhere - is lower fuel taxes. As of last July, Texas and Louisiana were charging drivers for 38.4¢ per gallon, in Massachusetts, you're paying a bit more at 41.9¢, while California, with the highest fuel tax in the nation was charging a whopping 71.9¢ per gallon, figuring 18.4¢ of those totals is the federal excise tax that everyone pays. Believe it or not, the taxes on diesel actually run about 6¢ to 8¢ more per gallon across the nation than that for mogas. Your friendly neighborhood pump jockey is actually a tax collector now, handing off about 20% of your payment to the state and federal government.
http://www.api.org/oil-and-natural-g...xes-report.pdf - scroll to page 2.












finally I'm starting to see prices below $4 in NY
