Ward's columnist wonders if Americans can handle the truth about gas taxes

Sam Abuelsamid — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 18:57:00 EST

Filed under: Car Buying, Trends, Government/Legal, Green

People have always had something of an aversion to hard truths. Most Americans say they want their country to get off foreign oil or help the environment, but when it comes to the bottom line, they want cheap fuel. And when the prices on gas pumps start to dip, consumer interest in smaller more efficient vehicles tends to go out the window. Understandably, drivers everywhere tend to make vehicle purchasing decisions in large part based on fuel prices.

Ward's Auto World columnist Drew Winters notes that executives like Bob Lutz have long advocated that fossil fuel prices need to increase in order to make more efficient vehicles appeal to consumers. But with U.S. consumers' almost instinctual avoidance of taxation, it has been difficult for politicians to consider such measures. Instead, it would appear that most constituents want government to mandate both more fuel efficient cars (through mechanisms like CAFE) and cheap gas without impacting the cost of automobiles themselves.

Winters paraphrases The End of Oil author Paul Roberts, noting that "every major fuel shift in history - from wood to coal to oil - was driven primarily by market forces, specifically by competitive advantages of the new fuel over the old." Thus, part of the solution may simply to make the fossil fuels more expensive relative to other energy sources.

Unfortunately, Winters surmises, it appears that nobody can handle this truth.

[Source: Ward's Auto World | Photo: GoodGreentips.com]

Ward's columnist wonders if Americans can handle the truth about gas taxes originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 27 Dec 2008 18:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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High gas prices crippling European growth

John Neff — Mon, 01 May 2006 11:57:00 EST

Filed under: Trends, Europe

Or so says Andris Piebalgs, the European Union's energy commissioner. Gas prices in Europe are currently at the equivalent of $6.62/gallon, more than twice the average price of a gallon of go-juice in the U.S. Imagine paying $72.82 to fill your 11-gallon gas tank, or how about $125 to fill your 20-gallon tank? Though we in the U.S. cry foul at $3/gallon gas, Europeans can only remember with envy those days when fuel didn't cost a day's wage. Meanwhile fuel-dependant companies are passing the extra costs right down the line to consumers.

One interesting note is that taxes comprise 66% of the cost of fuel in Europe. As of 2005 gas in the U.S. carried with it federal, state and local taxes that ranged anywhere from 32.9 cents to 62.9 cents per gallon. New York's combined gas tax is the highest in the nation at near 63 cents/gallon, which means at last week's price of $2.914/gallon about 29%, or less than half the amount of taxes Europeans pay, went to the government.

High gas prices crippling European growth originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 01 May 2006 11:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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