Gas Taxation: the Necessary Evil

1. Americans are known for their long-term love affair with their cars. But as gasoline prices soar and concern about the environment mounts, the standard of living by ordinary people on a daily basis also become difficult; the need to conserve gasoline has become increasingly clear. What would it take to reduce the overall demand for gasoline in the United States most especially as we see it now?

Despite the real life anecdote described above, a lot of people don't understand why and how gas prices rise and fall. There's an increase in attention to gas prices when they're higher or lower than usual because that directly concerns them as a consumer. Even when gas prices are higher, consumers keep paying because there's not really an alternative out there besides buying a new environmentally friendly car. However, there's currently a much deeper problem in the United States related to gas prices. Today, in particular, gas prices are a lot less than they have been but most Americans brush it off and wonder something along the lines of ""Who is that bad for?"". I mean, fuels costs eat up a large share of earnings in the

Gas is something we need in our day-to-day life to operate vehicles that bring us places we need to go. Without gas we can't go on living our normal lives. Sadly the prices of gas are not pleasant to the consumers at times, but we have to deal with it. Around the year 2012 gas was a staggering $ 3.60 average and was $4.00 at time, the people were asking the government to mandate gas prices. Although if the government were to mandate gas prices, the prices would be more appealing to the consumers, but not for the long run.

If there is anything that must be said, more taxes equal higher prices. The only way to lower gas prices is through reducing taxes and regulation. Many argue that the regulations in place in the state of California are over the top and unnecessary. There has never been a time in human history that more taxes resulted in lower prices. The “oil-extraction tax” is a disastrous plan that would only result in upset consumers because of the terribly high prices that would be

The price of gas has gone up for the 30th day in a row, and with it tempers are rising. Increased demand for public transportation is expected to continue into the spring [1]. The impact of high oil

tax is not among the highest. According to Singer's (Aug 24, 2017), the Connecticut 6.35 percent sales tax ranks thirty-two in the US. It is higher than certain state such as Massachusetts, and lower than others, such as Rode Island and New York. As Connecticut tries to grow its economy and fix it budget crisis with higher sales tax, will create a financial problem for the lower and middle classes. "Based on estimate produced by ITEP data, low income families spend seventy five percent of their income on items subjected to sales tax, higher than fifty percent spent by middle-income families and seventeen percent spent by the richest families”(ITEP). Considering this, the tax do not affect upper income families,but low and mid-income people who cannot afford the tax . Comparing gas tax to other states shows that, Connecticut’s gas tax is not among the highest. According to the graph provided by the ITEPS research report (July 2017), Connecticut’s four percent gas tax is higher than certain states such as Kentucky, South Dakota, and Michigan, but lower than other states such as Alaska, Louisiana and New Mexico.

In today’s society, everyone seems to be in a rush. Convenience trumps nearly anything and everything. The closest and the promptest option is the one we often lean toward, regardless of the consequence or cost. One of the biggest convenience items within the 21st Century is gasoline. Regardless of the price, we often purchase this item at the most suitable site and time, especially when we are in desperate need of the item. Gasoline companies are alert that convenience is ideal; therefore, they alter gas prices to obtain the greatest amount of business.

This question is a casual argument because it speculates the consequences in increasing the gas taxes.

To begin, I believe it prudent to discuss the macroeconomic considerations of rising gas prices on both the income and substitution effect. As such, a brief but comprehensive introduction will be needed to help make inference concerning consumer behavior. To begin,

The price of gasoline is definitely driven by the concept of supply and demand. When prices fall, quantity demand will rise, when price rises, quantity demanded will fall. This statement is true in most cases. But gasoline is a necessity to most Americans. The demand for fuel does not decrease when the price increase. Consumers often influence the price of gasoline. Gas prices in the late spring and summer months are the highest during the entire year. These are the periods when consumers drive the most. This is the time when most construction and manufacturing jobs are in operation. Like now, in the winter, gas prices are at the lowest point in a six month period. The six-month gasoline price chart I

Increasing the United States federal gasoline tax is currently a debated issue as a means of curtailing dependency on foreign oil and improving the country’s environment. An increases, however, would be regressive and would place another hardship on citizens who already feel as if taxes are too high. Because of the unpopularity of such a tax, nationally elected officials have not seriously floated the plan as means of raising revenue, but it could be used as a means to progressively cut income taxes.

At this time, 18.4 cents is gathered as a federal gasoline tax, and 20 cents is gathered as a state gas tax. However, the federal tax is sent to Washington, and we only receive back 87 cents of every dollar sent (the rest goes to other states). As an example of this, Rhode Island gets back $2.10 for every dollar in gas tax that they send to Washington. For the state gas taxes gathered, it is even worse.

Drivers realize that the price of gas is tied to the market value of crude oil, and has a direct impact to their daily commutes, errands, and vacations. However the reality is that the price of fuel has implications much grater than most consumers realize. Fuel prices affect nearly everything we purchase. For example, the price of farm commodities and food increase because farmers pay more for the fuel for their farm equipment and trucking firms pay more for fuel to get the commodities to market. These shipping “fuel surcharges” impact all goods

The American people are in the presence of the highest tax burden in American history; taxes represent a larger share of the U.S. economy than ever before (Armey 2). After World War II, the average family sent only about three percent of its income to Washington. The same family today gives 24 percent of its income to the federal tax collector (Mitchell 1, 9). Once state and local taxes are added to the federal take, taxes make up the biggest slice of the average family's budget. As Daniel Mitchell of the Heritage Foundation shows in Figure 1, the typical American family now pays more of its budget in taxes than it spends on food, clothing, transportation and shelter combined (Mitchell 1, 10).

The US consumed 142 billion gallons of gasoline in 2007 and the tax applied on it is 18. 4 cents on one gallon. All around the US, there are around 162,000 retail gasoline outlets. With the price of crude oil hovering around $100 a barrel, it is no wonder that concern is growing about the gas prices being so high. After all, modern economies are kept moving by this lifeblood. For instance, in the United States alone personal vehicles consume more than 140 billion gallons of diesel fuel and gasoline per year.However, there are several factors that contribute to the gas prices being so high. Given below are a few of them. Increasing Demand for Oil One of the main catalysts for the incessant rise in gas prices has been one of the most