Lower fuel cost ? Not in PA

[bullroc3]

Thought that I would put up a separate post about the rise in fuel costs going to happen starting January 1, 2014. Recently, our legislators in Harrisburg passed a bill, which the Governor signed into law, that eventually will RAISE the tax on gas and diesel in Pennsylvania about 28.5 cents more per gallon in addition to raising our driver and vehicle licensing fees. Proceeds from this fund raising event will be spent improving our bridges and roads which are in desperate need of repairs. But there are not too many drivers that are excited about this event. I believe that this will give Pennsylvania the distinction of having the highest fuel taxes in the nation. So if you are traveling through the state on January 1, 2014 when the first increase takes place, expect to pay 9.5 cents more than on New Years Eve, 2013.

[DQDick]

Extra fuel tanks are looking better and better every day. I used to think I didn't need them because I needed to stop long before the truck. Now there are a few states it would be good to be able to pass right thru.

[Rondo]

Time to put a 1000 gallon tank in the ground and have it filled before January 1st, John!
The Omaha City Council decided to put in wheel tax on our vehicles about 15 years ago to take care of the streets here and keep them in good shape. It was suppose to only be for a year or two but guess what, it's still in effect, has raised in price and the streets are worse than they were back when it went into effect. Nothing better than the knowledge of our governments and their infanent wisdom!

[Art-n-Marge]

Kinda makes you wonder what happened to all the state contributions to road maintenance that are required to get the federal matching funds intended for road repairs? Like most other states it gets diverted to other needs, then new funds beget new taxes because they convince us whatever they're doing or what they have isn't enough (28.5 cents is a lot of increase). This is how California keeps creating new taxes by using schools as the reasons for increased taxes, but there are enough loopholes to divert the money elsewhere, then new dollars are asked for similar things in the following year for slightly different school purposes and the state is still broke while money is spent on other stupid stuff we won't ever know enough about.

Thanks for the warning Bullroc when traveling into PA, but us little guys just like to go places and pay whatever the price and we'll make whatever sacrifices at our level to adjust and we might just do that in PA since there's lots of good things to see and do. After all, there's lots of places worth visiting there so we'll blindly pay the taxes and hope the roads we use are the ones that get the repairs.

Don't talk to this Californian about increased Driver and License. We probably already got you beat on that one.

Rondo, don't panic! By the time you paid for that 1000 gallon tank in the ground you won't get your money back in fuel savings. Unless you decide to sell the fuel yourself then you'll have other regulations to worry about that will increase the cost of trying to save the tax money. And don't forget, government wisdom is an oxymoron, infinite or not.

[HOOK]

$3.79 in NC

[bethandkevin]

The retailers are making more these days. At my job I order the gasoline for our vehicles. Doing so, I track the cost per gallon, the street price that day and the futures price that day. up until the last nine months, the "spread" between the street price and our price was $.30 to $.60 on average. As of the last load I bought in the first week of December that "spread" is closer to $1.00. Keeping in mind Michigan taxes amount to about $.57 per gallon, our last load cost $2.388 per gallon with no taxes (government sale) and that was a day old price (the wholesale cost went down $.06 overnight), the street price went up that day to $3.399 per gallon-over a dollar "spread"! Do the math here, for every penny mark up on a load of gas equals $134.00, a dime $1,340.00, four dimes $5,360.00. It takes me three weeks to go through a 13,400 gallon load. Most high volume retailers go through a load every 1 to 1-1/2 days. When I worked for a Sunoco station about 15 years ago, he was happy to make 5 to 6 cents a gallon. He said gas was just for cash flow-not for profit. Boy have things changed. Now it's cash flow AND profit.
That's my weekly gas rant, with a few numbers to think about thrown in.

[sambam]

I'd like to make a comment, but political posts are frowned upon on this website. That's probably a good thing.

[c214dick]

Kevin, did your analysis include taxes?

[DonandBonnie]

sambam x 2

[Artemus Gordon]

Last I checked, Cal Gas was taxed .72 cents per gallon.