# Temporary Suspension of the Gas Tax in the U.S.



## ChrisZwolle (May 7, 2006)

What a nonsense, there is almost no gas tax in the US.


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## jarbury (Aug 20, 2007)

^^ That's what I was thinking. 18c a gallon, that's like what, 4.5c a litre or something? Here in New Zealand we have about 70c per litre of tax I think, if you include GST. European countries are even higher I guess?

Petrol in NZ costs about $US1.45 per litre. I think there's roughly 4L in a US gallon, so heck we're up near $US6 a gallon, what are the yanks moaning about?


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## Xusein (Sep 27, 2005)

The fuel tax is not 18 cents anywhere in the US. That is just the federal part. States implement their own taxes, and they generally are higher. My state, Connecticut, has a fuel tax of 62 cents/gal (16.35 cents/liter)...still quite low compared to other countries, but not THAT low.

Anyway, this idea is going nowhere. Everyone is panning it.


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## jarbury (Aug 20, 2007)

Ah I didn't realise that states had their own petrol taxes. Is Connecticut at the higher or lower end of the scale?


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## Xusein (Sep 27, 2005)

2nd highest in the country, after California, and almost twice as high as New Jersey, a nearby state.

Unlike our neighbors, we don't have toll roads, so the money has to come from somewhere.


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## ChrisZwolle (May 7, 2006)

Dutch fuel was € 1,609 per liter today. 2/3rd of that is tax. So our tax alone is already $ 6.3 per gallon. Yet everybody is still going on holiday with their cars, mobile homes and RV's like always.


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## Bartolo (Sep 20, 2004)

here in Dundas, ON, gas is at $1.23 a litre, which is about $4.75 a US gallon


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## jarbury (Aug 20, 2007)

Chriszwolle said:


> Dutch fuel was € 1,609 per liter today. 2/3rd of that is tax. So our tax alone is already $ 6.3 per gallon. Yet everybody is still going on holiday with their cars, mobile homes and RV's like always.


Per capita car use in the Netherlands is surely a lot less than in places like the USA, Canada, Australia and NZ though. I imagine your average Dutch person probably doesn't drive 20,000+ km a year like your average American might.


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## ChrisZwolle (May 7, 2006)

jarbury said:


> Per capita car use in the Netherlands is surely a lot less than in places like the USA, Canada, Australia and NZ though. I imagine your average Dutch person probably doesn't drive 20,000+ km a year like your average American might.


I think you could be wrong. Car usage in the Netherlands is probably one of the highest in Europe. They say the average car mileage is 18,000 km per year, however, that also includes oldtimers and granny cars.

However, even with every increasing fuel prices, traffic jams continue to rise with 10%+ per year, and the increase itself is also increasing. Dutch traffic (especially Randstad) is as bad as LA traffic.


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## jarbury (Aug 20, 2007)

I guess the Dutch must be pretty attached to their cars. Is public transport poor or something? It's just hard to fathom why, in a pretty densely populated country, where petrol prices are comparatively high, you would have such high automobile dependency. Auto dependency exists in the US because the whole country's urban form has been based on cheap gasoline over the past 60 years. People living in sprawling suburbs who work in office parks often have little choice but to drive to work. One would think this isn't necessarily the case in the Netherlands?


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## Xusein (Sep 27, 2005)

Gas is $4 here now ($1.06/l), and diesel is $4.70 ($1.24/l) at my local station. 

Our way of life is on the breaking point.

(okay, not really, since people are driving as much as ever here)


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## ChrisZwolle (May 7, 2006)

Gallup Poll said:


> By a margin of 54% to 42%, Americans favor suspending the federal gas tax for the summer, and the majority in favor increases to a 65% to 30% margin among lower-income households.


Not very surprising, since it's not that weird that people want cheaper gas.


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## Astralis (Jan 28, 2007)

What are you all complaining about... here in Croatia we have 1.9 $ per litre (7,2 $ per gallon) and haven't seen anyone lowering his car usage or anything.


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## ChrisZwolle (May 7, 2006)

Dutch prices just increased to € 1,624 per liter or $ 9.465 per gallon. I can tell the same Astralis just told.


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## Chicagoago (Dec 2, 2005)

They vary by state, but the AVERAGE gas tax in the United States is a total of 47c per gallon.


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## Chicagoago (Dec 2, 2005)

We obviously depend on cars much more than other countries. We have 5% of the worlds population, yet have 30% of it's cars.

The average American drives almost 20,000KM every year. Most people grew up without an opion other than driving, it just IS. This is why it's hitting people very hard. It would be like the price of riding public transit in Paris increasing by 5 euro per ride really quick. People would freak out.

I don't own a car anymore (thank god), but there aren't many people like me who thrive on public transit. I love taking it...


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## Golden Age (Dec 26, 2006)

Chrissib said:


> Here in germany is also a discussion about the suspension of the gas tax. Especially the so called 'ecological tax' is highly discussed.


The German "Ökosteuer" (eco tax) is controversial, but has been highly effective. Also, cars are less important in Germany due to the top-notch public transport system, the high speed train ICE or cheap airline travel (not only Ryanair, but also good deals from Lufthansa).

The US needs to keep its tax, taking it away would unnecessarily benefit a lot of people who could pay for it. Instead incentives need to be strengthened for car pooling, etc. The lower middle class will get hit hard by rising gas prices, but wasn't this the writing on the wall for the past 10 years? Anybody following the news (i.e., China's/India's economic growth, conflicts in the Middle East) should have been able to figure out that gas prices had and will have nowhere to go but up.


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## hoosier (Apr 11, 2007)

The Netherlands is a tiny country with good rail coverage so it baffles me why so many people drive cars there. Local transit needs to be improved then.

America is going to have to change its land use policies and invest billions in high speed rail and mass transit.


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## romanamerican (Apr 28, 2007)

hoosier said:


> America is going to have to change its land use policies and invest billions in high speed rail and mass transit.


Things have started to move already more than 5 years ago: in California they are planning a high speed train to connect the major cities (San Diego,Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento), and public transport is following in the same direction (I know a lawyer that is working for the Sacramento government for the urban planning of the years 2008-2030,they are planning the high speed train and things are moving at a good pace). 
On the East coast, the situation is similar, even though the infrastructure is already there (train track wise), but needs to have a good investment to re-modern it and make it price-accessible (trains now are way too expensive, and Amtrack has never had enough government funding ).

As for the rest, it is unthinkable to build a high speed train system between the two coasts: distances are enormous, and costs would be just a waste of money that wouldn't bring to an efficient transport system capable of pulling a competition with the airlines.


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## Zabonz (Feb 5, 2007)

You guys should be happy because gas prices are going up. That should eventually stop disastrous sprawling that is killing urbanity in your city's. Mass transit will improve and cities will become urban and start to be more dense! thats great


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## Xusein (Sep 27, 2005)

IMO, as much as I hate it (honestly), I believe that the fuel tax will actually need to be RAISED in the future to help pay for the investment in our aging infrastructure that it sorely needs. Maybe 25 cents or so actually.

25 cents added to the price of gasoline is not even a big deal. I'm seeing gasoline prices above $4.20/gal and diesel hovering $5, that it really won't make a difference. It's all high now. I honestly don't even give a shit now. 

That, or the US will have to spend massive amounts of money on public transportation or maybe some alternative fuels (and not a BS shortcut like Ethanol). Either way, we will have to do something and spend more to fix the problem, not less. 

It's embarrassing that the government keeps putting it's head in the sand like an ostrich and instead of finding solutions that can help us in the future, they come up with idiotic plans like these. 

(gas tax-holiday proposals are increasing like wildfire all over the country, but curiously since Memorial Day is on Monday, NONE that I know of have actually passed).


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