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Taxes are a necessary evil in all functioning economies. If you don't like it I am sure you'll love Somalia and its lack of tax collectors.
Actually I am a pretty big fan of use taxes like gas.
What I'm not a fan of is a lack of transparancy and basically lying to the American people when the prices go up or if the largest company in the world makes some "record profit" in terms of total dollars.
So then we get a televised witch hunt where our politicians grill the guys making a 30-40 cent a gallon profit and make no mention of our devalued currency, global supply vs. demand, taxes and so on and so forth.
....and before you start this is less a defense of the oil companies than it is just anger over a missed opportunity to educate a section of the American public as to factors that actually contribute to our gas prices so that we can understand how these forces interact. Instead we get threats by people to "take those profits"....who of course know they not only cannot legally do it but that the whole ploy is a red herring. (Then they take huge campaign contributions from the oil companies lol.)
And so, we get thread after thread by people that have never taken a basic econ or finance class spouting off about oil prices in a hurry, so that they don't miss American Idol.
True each state has different gas taxes, but those don't change on a week to week basis. There are some area where gas is staying artificially high right now for no reason- it's only because either the stations or the distributors are unwilling to drop, they are seeing the opportunity for greater profits now as the oil prices are down and yet people are used to paying $4 per gallon at this time. So they drop the price 5 cents and everyone gets excited, even though their cost maybe went down 40 cents already. Prices don't finally start dropping until a couple brave stations go down lower and start a price war. It's ridiculous.
As I had mentioned before, back in February when oil was at around $95-$100 per barrel we were paying about $3.50 per gallon here in the Seattle area. Now that oil is actually lower than that, but has been floating around that $95-$100 mark for a couple months- we are still paying $3.80 to even $3.90 in most areas here. That sure isn't a tax problem because taxes did not go up since February. I don't know if that can be blamed on the stations themselves or on the suppliers, but it is definitely someone local/regional to blame.
True each state has different gas taxes, but those don't change on a week to week basis. There are some area where gas is staying artificially high right now for no reason- it's only because either the stations or the distributors are unwilling to drop, they are seeing the opportunity for greater profits now as the oil prices are down and yet people are used to paying $4 per gallon at this time. So they drop the price 5 cents and everyone gets excited, even though their cost maybe went down 40 cents already. Prices don't finally start dropping until a couple brave stations go down lower and start a price war. It's ridiculous.
As I had mentioned before, back in February when oil was at around $95-$100 per barrel we were paying about $3.50 per gallon here in the Seattle area. Now that oil is actually lower than that, but has been floating around that $95-$100 mark for a couple months- we are still paying $3.80 to even $3.90 in most areas here. That sure isn't a tax problem because taxes did not go up since February. I don't know if that can be blamed on the stations themselves or on the suppliers, but it is definitely someone local/regional to blame.
It could also be the blend used specifically in the Seattle area to meet with some government mandate. That's a big reason why Chicago has the highest gas prices, because we're required by a combination of state and federal laws/regulations to use a certain blend of fuel in summer and there's only three or four refineries in the entire world that produce this particular blend. It's quite aggravating really -- almost makes me wish I lived on the South side of the city so I could just bop over to Indiana and pay 30 cents a gallon less.
It could also be the blend used specifically in the Seattle area to meet with some government mandate. That's a big reason why Chicago has the highest gas prices, because we're required by a combination of state and federal laws/regulations to use a certain blend of fuel in summer and there's only three or four refineries in the entire world that produce this particular blend. It's quite aggravating really -- almost makes me wish I lived on the South side of the city so I could just bop over to Indiana and pay 30 cents a gallon less.
I'm sure that could be one reason why our gas prices are normally higher than other parts of the country. However I don't think that would have changed much since February when our price per gallon was so much less.
I'm sure that could be one reason why our gas prices are normally higher than other parts of the country. However I don't think that would have changed much since February when our price per gallon was so much less.
Summer blend is more expensive than winter blend. Additionally, for those cities that transition from one to the other, the refineries first have to deplete their stock of one before they can begin producing the other, which naturally puts a squeeze on supplies. The deadline for retailers to start selling the summer blend is June 1st.
If BP and Exxon can sell gas in S.C. for $3.11, why can't they sell gas in every state for $3.11?
That "ain't OPEC" at work.
1) Differing gas taxes.
2) Some states require blended gas etc. making the production subject to other or additional costs.
3) Environmental and other laws impacting the cost of doing business in the state.
4) Operating costs for a gas station....the biggie being the cost of the land aka the amount of investment required to have the gas station there. This is why even if everything else was the same a gas station on a 1/2 acre of land in Maui is going to have to charge more than one on a 1/2 acre of land along I-80 in Iowa to produce the same % return for the owner.
I'm sure that could be one reason why our gas prices are normally higher than other parts of the country. However I don't think that would have changed much since February when our price per gallon was so much less.
I checked out the charts on Gas Buddy comparing Seattle to the US average.
Since early May....Seattle is down 25cents vs. 35cents nationally.
In early February the average price in Seattle was around 3.25 which was about 15cents higher than the national average at that time. Right now Seattle is more like 25cents higher than the national average.
One thing to always consider is the starting point. If you starting point is during a price war in your area then the price war ends then this might explain some of what you are seeing.
I have no answers on this, just providing some information I found.
Unfortunately, the discount is good only at Murphy USA and Wal-Mart gas stations in 18 states, mostly in the heartland. California and the Northeast are out of luck.
you can get the gas discount only if you use a Wal-Mart credit card, gift card or MoneyCard.
Wal-Mart charges a $3 fee for a MoneyCard, a $3 fee to reload it and a $3 monthly maintenance fee (waived if you load $1,000 to the card for the month). The Wal-Mart Discover card and credit card both charge a 22.9% annual percentage rate and late-payment fees of up to $35.
So that's what Wal-Mart gets from this promotion. What do customers get? Let's see, my car can hold 12 gallons of gas, so a 10-cent-a-gallon discount saves me a whopping $1.20 if I fill the tank.
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