Gas Prices

[Henry]

My daughter from New Hampshire reports:

"Hey, our gas prices are $3.59 and below - and as low as $3.48 in a few locations. Hard to believe this is something to get excited about!"

They haven't reached any where near that up here, although my other daughter who works in Colchester reports a price of $3.81 there.

[Kathleen]

About a week ago, I took a trip down to Castleton using Rt7 & 30 going down and Rt22A on the way back.  The best price I saw was $3.73 but that was only at one small station and it could have been a "discount day" for them.  Most of the prices all the way down and back were about $3.79 - $3.83

Obviously the difference in price between VT and NH is the State tax portion of the cost.

[NorthFairfaxBoy]

I traveled from Tennessee to Vermont last week.  Was anywhere from 3.59 in Ohio to 4.20 (on the NYS Thru-Way).  I was in very rural parts of Kentucky and was still paying less than 3.85.  Which leads me to believe the "it costs more to transport it far away" is just an excuse.  The words price gouging come to mind when its 4.20 in Buffalo, New York population 300,000 and 3.79 in Hodgenville, KY population 3000.

[aheyer]

down here on the MA north shore we are at about the same $3.59, but what is great and I don't know if they are doing it up north is knocking off another 10 cents if you pay with cash so the stations do not have to pay the credit card fees... slowly but surely the prices are falling

[Carolyn Branagan]

High fuel prices are difficult for many Vermonters. Here's how the gas tax works: 

The gasoline tax is a fixed 20 cents per gallon. This consists of a 19 cent per gallon tax which is allocated among the 
Transportation Fund, the DUI Enforcement Fund and the Fish and Wildlife Fund, and 1 cent per gallon dedicated to the Petroleum Clean Up Fund. So the 20 cents per gallon is allocated this way:
Transportation Fund ---18.245 cents
DUI Enforcement---.380 cents
Fish and Wildlife Fund---.375 cents
Petroleum Clean Up Fund---1 cent

The Diesel Tax is very similar, with a 26 cent tax per gallon. It is allocated so that the Transportation Fund gets 25 cents and the Petroleum Clean Up Fund gets 1 cent.

The Gasoline Tax and the Diesel Tax are major sources of revenue for the Transportation Fund, so this summer when folks have been driving less, the loss in revenue from these taxes has meant a loss in funding for Transportation.
Call me if you have further questions. 527-7694

I don't like paying these high prices either!

Rep. Carolyn Branagan
Franklin-1, Fairfax/Georgia
Vermont House of Representatives

[fletchtb]

I traveled from Tennessee to Vermont last week.  Was anywhere from 3.59 in Ohio to 4.20 (on the NYS Thru-Way).  I was in very rural parts of Kentucky and was still paying less than 3.85.  Which leads me to believe the "it costs more to transport it far away" is just an excuse.  The words price gouging come to mind when its 4.20 in Buffalo, New York population 300,000 and 3.79 in Hodgenville, KY population 3000.

New York probably has a higher gas tax than Kentucky. The overhead of running a business on the NYS Thruway is probably a lot higher than the business owner who is running the tiny store in rural Kentucky.

[NorthFairfaxBoy]

I traveled from Tennessee to Vermont last week.  Was anywhere from 3.59 in Ohio to 4.20 (on the NYS Thru-Way).  I was in very rural parts of Kentucky and was still paying less than 3.85.  Which leads me to believe the "it costs more to transport it far away" is just an excuse.  The words price gouging come to mind when its 4.20 in Buffalo, New York population 300,000 and 3.79 in Hodgenville, KY population 3000.

New York probably has a higher gas tax than Kentucky. The overhead of running a business on the NYS Thruway is probably a lot higher than the business owner who is running the tiny store in rural Kentucky.

Overhead higher? Possibly, but doubtful, there are more people that go through these places in a hour on the NYS Thru-way than go through the store in KY in I'd say a day.  And when you are on the thru way..you are on it.  No place to "shop around".  So essentially they can charge whatever they want.

[Julie & 6pt Dave]

Carolyn,

[Julie & 6pt Dave]

Carolyn,
    ( Sorry, hit enter ).   Thanks for the info on the gas tax.  Use to be , way back when , you could pull up to the pump and see the breakdown of the total cost of a gallon of gas.  I don't seem to see that now.
     So we have the Vermont State tax of $.20 / gallon and the Federal tax of ( $ some amount / gallon ).  Is there any other tax that is included in the total?  For example could there be a town tax ( I doubt it...) or a county tax ( possible ??).  Just wondering.