Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Aubrey C. Sanders, Jr. on March 23, 2012 at 11:49

LP, There is a good explanation about cost of gasoline in my newspaper (The Arizona Republic) today (4/23) which you may want to read.  The article title is: What---and who---makes gasoline prices rise. The article is written by Jonathon Fahey, writer for Associated Press. It really is controlled by world-wide price of oil.  I have not been to England for long while, but seems that I paid equivalent of about $8-$9 per gallon.

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Permalink Reply by LP on March 23, 2012 at 12:05

Thanks Aubrey. I will read it.

My curiosity is focused on something I didn't notice until a friend and I were discussing the amount of a dollar or a euro that goes for the actual product. After doing some calculations, if my math is even close to correct, we in the US are paying 3 times more per gallon of gasoline than they are in Europe. While it appears on the surface that they pay more, if you factor out the amount that they pay per gallon (converting their liter to equal our gallon) in tax (70%) and then factor out our tax per gallon (17%) we are paying $3.20 per gallon while in Europe they are paying $1.82 per gallon for just the gasoline product.

Is this correct???? Anyone ???????

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Permalink Reply by essay on March 23, 2012 at 14:10

while it is true that global demand does drive oil prices, federal reserve policy of easy money is another very large influence on what we pay for oil in dollar terms, which is also the reason why i do not truly feel that we have free markets right now.  it really is a witches brew we are in, and many people don't even realize how bad it still is because even if they pay attention at all most of the news they consume is focused on things like the fake equities market or the fake gdp/unemployment numbers.

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Permalink Reply by LP on March 23, 2012 at 14:40

Fellows....

In Europe a gallon of refined gasoline, from the pump....before tax costs the buyer $1.82 US dollars

In the US, that gallon of refined gasoline, from the pump....before tax costs the buyer $3.20.

Why? Is it because our dollar value is so weak that it takes 3 US dollars to equal $1.00 Euro? I don't think that's it.

I know most of the crude oil used in Europe comes from Russia but some comes from Saudi Arabia, just as some of our supply comes from. If two tankers of crude oil leave Saudi Arabia on the same day priced in the market at the same time, one tanker goes to a refinery in Europe and the other goes to Houston, the refineries turn the crude into gasoline, a gallon of that gasoline sells for $1.82 (US dollars) plus 70% tax in Paris, France. The Houston refined supply sells a gallon of that gasoline in Shreveport, La for $3.20 plus state and federal tax.

Why the difference?

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Permalink Reply by LP on March 23, 2012 at 14:48

BTW. I know it doesn't matter where the crude oil comes from. We could send a tanker of US crude oil to Europe and pipe that same amount to a refinery in Texas City and the price at the pump in France would still be $1.82 before tax and the price at the pump in Dallas would still be $3.20. Right?

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Permalink Reply by essay on March 23, 2012 at 15:37

those numbers are off, it says in your link that the price of raw gas is about the same.  also, from http://www.vtpi.org/tdm/tdm17.htm

further, the price of gasoline in france is pushing as high as $10/gallon right now with the national average somewhere over $8 http://articles.businessinsider.com/2012-03-17/europe/31195756_1_ga... 

your currency conversion is off by about 12%, and i don't think taxes in france are quite 70%, they're not even in the top 5, top 10 maybe, and as far as i know europe tops out at about 60% in norway or sweden.

there's no difference.

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Permalink Reply by LP on March 23, 2012 at 15:55

Okay. My data must have been older. Thanks. I think this clears it up.

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Permalink Reply by CIRCLE-D on March 23, 2012 at 16:25

gasoline tax state of La.    20 cents federal and approxiately 19 cents state

for a total of 39 cents per gallon

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Permalink Reply by Les Bamburg on March 24, 2012 at 13:13

LP, please see the following link for a good breakdown of gasoline prices in the US.  The February 2012 example is based on a crude oil price of ~ $108/Bbl.  Taxes in the example are ~ 28 cents/gallon.  Federal plus Louisiana taxes are about 20 cents/gallon.

 

http://www.eia.gov/petroleum/gasdiesel/

 

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Permalink Reply by LP on March 24, 2012 at 16:19

Thanks Les. I'm not really looking for specific tax or what the Louisiana tax is. I know what the state and federal taxes are. I must not have explained where I was going with my question.

I was looking at or comparing the raw price of gasoline ~before~ tax is added to the price....both in the US and in Europe. I think I got my answer. With the current national average of gasoline in the US at $3.89 (which includes federal tax of 18.4 cents and then whatever state one is in tax added) Then what is the average price of gasoline (petrol) in Europe which is (when converted from liters to a gallon and converted from Euro to US dollars) $10.00 per gallon. Deduct the taxes in the US and deduct the tax in Europe, the price in the US...general price and national average equals approximately $3.20. Doing the same to the gallon of gasoline in Europe, the general, average, approximate price is $3.00 per gallon. The other $7.00 they pay for a gallon of gasoline is tax which goes for their socialized medicine. They pay a lot for their "free" health care. That was where I was going with my inquiry. I needed to be sure my figures were somewhere close to accurate. (for a discussion in another group)

I appreciate the information from everyone. The GHS is a wealth of knowledge and I just needed to borrow a gallon of expertise.

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Permalink Reply by LP on March 25, 2012 at 6:15

I am definitely going to work on my communications skills because I've had a very hard time getting the point of my inquiry understood. Yes. Tax on US gasoline is, for the most part, suppose to go toward transportation purposes. I was not equating our ~use~ of gas tax to the European use of their very high taxes on gasoline. I appreciate all input. I'm giving up on the question though. LOL !

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Permalink Reply by LP on March 25, 2012 at 12:34

Seems like the more I try to explain, the more muddled it becomes.

In a discussion...in another group there was groaning about the price of gasoline. (in this counrty) Someone in the discussion said:

"if you think it is bad here, move to Europe where they pay a lot more for gasoline than we do".

Following up on that comment, I did some research. I discovered that what they pay in Europe for a gallon of gasoline is a little less than what we in the USA pay for a gallon of gasoline. That is to say, they pay less for the product (gasoline). But their price at the pump is substantially more because 70% of the price they pay is tax. Bottom line is that the price of the product (gasoline) is somewhat the same as the price of the product in the USA. End of story. Appreciate all of the help.

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