[quote]ORIGINAL: 2 Marks

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2. A significant portion of the cost per gallon is government tax. You would be surprised how much we pay per gallon. Remember, these taxes are percentages, so when the price of gas increases, so does the amount of tax.

[quote]

You are actually wrong on this one. There is a federal gas tax per gallon and a state tax per gallon. Federal tax on gas is 18.4 cents/gallon on gas and 24.4 cents/gallon on diesel. State tax is of course dependent on the state. Indiana is 18.4 cents/gallon. So a total of around 37 cents/ gallon gas tax.

Ethanol really isn't as great as people think because the output compared to input costs isn't that great. Fertilizer has sky rocketed over the past few years. You have to have fertilizer, fuel to plant the crop, harvest the crop, and transport it. So for all the fuel that is used to get the crop, what is gained is very good.

Diesel fuel won't go down because there are thousands of trucks on the roads everyday transporting goods and the oil companies know the trucking industry won't shut down. Sure there are boycots but they are small and within a couple days those truckers will be filling up to get back to business, so what good does it do. The trucking companies pass the costs down to the consumers, thus raising the prices in the stores. A lot of the big rigs loaded get 4-6mpg. So it could be costing some of them $1/mile to haul.

 

[quote]ORIGINAL: 1500sport

[quote]ORIGINAL: 2 Marks

Here are a few comments from this thread:


2. A significant portion of the cost per gallon is government tax. You would be surprised how much we pay per gallon. Remember, these taxes are percentages, so when the price of gas increases, so does the amount of tax.

I stand corrected, you are right about state versus federal tax... my mistake; any rate, NY fuel tax is around $0.67 per gallon. The state taxes here are a percentage.I agree, E-85 isn't what is cracked up to be. And as you said, truckers pass along increases in fuel by way of a surcharge when shipping. Right now, the world doesn't really have an answer to these problems.

Oddly, peak oil is said to be 2010; this is where half of the worlds oil is depleated and through natural curves, production will decrease as years go by so less oil will be extracted from the ground post peak. This may explain why the US hasn't build any new refineries in years - the ROI isn't there.

 

Just saw this on MSN, hope the link is still current for everyone.

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com...lityCheck.aspx

 

Nice chain letter. Snopes has it word for word:

http://www.snopes.com/politics/gasoline/gasout.asp

Pure and total BS. It won't work. If you think it will, you lack a basic grasp of economics.

And you do know that if the government didn't subsidize ethanol production, it would be MORE EXPENSIVE than gasoline, right?