[Jan Alaska]

http://www.api.org/Oil-and-Natural-G...e-Tax-Map.ashx

Michigan has much higher tax on gas than AZ which probably accounts for the .30cent difference.

[jackmichigan]

Originally Posted by Jan Alaska

http://www.api.org/Oil-and-Natural-G...e-Tax-Map.ashx

Michigan has much higher tax on gas than AZ which probably accounts for the .30cent difference.

Yep. And Republicans (and other dumb politicians) want to raise it even more.

[BoomRShine]

Originally Posted by Jan Alaska

http://www.api.org/Oil-and-Natural-G...e-Tax-Map.ashx

Michigan has much higher tax on gas than AZ which probably accounts for the .30cent difference.

.30 cents isn't much at all, it is less than one-third of a cent.

[BoomRShine]

Originally Posted by JGatti

Does anyone else remember back in and around 2008 when Obama was running for the first term. One of the things he was jabbering about was getting to the bottom of the price gouging that was going on. Bush acted clueless when asked about prices getting out of control. Right after Obama was elected low and behold the gas prices dropped to the lowest they had been in years. It got down around $2.35 in my area.

It was a lot lower than that. It was well under $2.00 per gallon in most of the United States. In your area, it was down to $1.45.

Historical Gas Price Charts - Indianapolis Gas Prices

In Detroit, $1.51, in Chicago, $1.65, in Los Angeles, $1.69.

[Coldjensens]

When I was in California last week their prices were the same as here. Normally they are 50 cents to a dollar higher. Last week they were within pennies of MI. Some stations higher than here, some a tiny bit lower (like 1 cent).

[Coldjensens]

Originally Posted by jackmichigan

Yep. And Republicans (and other dumb politicians) want to raise it even more.

That is not a republican/democrat thing. That is a function of our roads being held together by band aid repairs for 40 years and now they must actually repair/replace them. The moeny has to come form somewhere. It can be a gas tax, sales tax, registration increases, whatever. The simple fact is they must now repair the roads and replace many bridges (1500 I think). We have to pay for it, I really do not care how, I just wish the politicians would quit being pansies and get something passed and get on with it.

What is not getting much attention is the other infrastructure that is worn out and must be replaced. Our sewer systems are crumbling. Some are still brick, some were buit in the 1970s and the contractors apparently paid inspectors to look the other way (because the workmanship was terrible and did not follow specs) this all has to be repaired or replaced as well and the cost will be in the billions. Again the politicians need to quit being cowards, and man up and authorize the rate increases necessary before we start having more sink holes and sewage dumping into our lakes and rivers This is not just about protecting our environment. This is about protecting our health. Most of SE Michigan (which is most of the State's population) drinks water from the Detroit River. We start dumping raw sewage into that water in large quantities and we are all going to be very sick.

In many places our electrical distribution grid is also worn out and needing replacement. While that will be the power company's responsibility, we get to pay for it. We are simply going to have to hunker down and pay more for a while until they get out infrastructure rebuilt. It is going to hurt, but it is necessary.

This gasoline problem is just the tip of the iceberg.

[jackmichigan]

Originally Posted by Coldjensens

That is not a republican/democrat thing. That is a function of our roads being held together by band aid repairs for 40 years and now they must actually repair/replace them.

I would counter that it's really more because our so-called planners have put all of our transportation eggs into one basket. The Michigan Highway Department (only euphemistically called the Department of Transportation) has never met a highway it didn't like. Let's face it--highways have destroyed Detroit and the inner suburbs, both from slicing and dicing viable communities, and also by encouraging development to reach into far-flung places.

They've always pushed higher taxes so that they could build more, not so much to maintain what we have. With the M-5 extension, state highway officials out-and-out lied about their long-term plans in order to garner federal and other state-department approvals. The state highway lobby continually has pushed for more and more roads, taking thousands of acres off the tax rolls (no one ever mentions that) and dooming us to a perpetual maintenance nightmare. Sure, we need to repair what we have, but we should also begin to look at decommissioning some of the mistakes that we've made.

[HarryBTL]

Originally Posted by jackmichigan

I would counter that it's really more because our so-called planners have put all of our transportation eggs into one basket. The Michigan Highway Department (only euphemistically called the Department of Transportation) has never met a highway it didn't like. Let's face it--highways have destroyed Detroit and the inner suburbs, both from slicing and dicing viable communities, and also by encouraging development to reach into far-flung places.

They've always pushed higher taxes so that they could build more, not so much to maintain what we have. With the M-5 extension, state highway officials out-and-out lied about their long-term plans in order to garner federal and other state-department approvals. The state highway lobby continually has pushed for more and more roads, taking thousands of acres off the tax rolls (no one ever mentions that) and dooming us to a perpetual maintenance nightmare. Sure, we need to repair what we have, but we should also begin to look at decommissioning some of the mistakes that we've made.

They had been downsizing some of the roads/streets here ( a few years back when this city hit rock bottom and lost a bit of it's population ) which is the first time i have EVER seen that happen anywhere. Some were 2 lanes each direction and either converted to just 1 lane in each direction or converted to 1 in each direction and a middle turn lane. With the recent explosion of jobs around here i suspect they may have to go back especially if this crazy job growth here continues.