The Journal Inquirer has an excellent editorial today which highlights the role government and taxation is playing in the high prices we are all paying at the pumps. They say:
Back in Connecticut, Governor Rell and the General Assembly are about to preside over another increase in gasoline taxes as the state’s wholesale tax on oil products is to rise from 7 to 7.5 percent on July 1. Connecticut’s combined state taxes on gasoline – the excise tax, 25 cents, and the wholesale tax – already add up to nearly 51 cents per gallon, or about 12 percent of the price. When asked about the wholesale tax, the governor and state legislators wring their hands, but privately they must love it, because it is a hidden tax, built into the price by wholesalers and raising about $250 million for the state each year even as it is mistaken by the public as the responsibility of the oil companies rather than the elected officials who enacted it and refuse to freeze or reduce it or even just fold it into the excise tax that is posted at the gas pump, where people might see it and understand it.
This, as Connecticut achieves the dubious distiction of having the highest gas prices in the United states. The AAA’s “Fuel Gauge Report” shows Connecticut’s average daily gasoline prices at $4.223 per gallon for regular, beating out every other state.
More “leadership” from the majority party running the show in Hartford. But don’t worry, they’ll be meeting in special session soon to make sure the gross receipts tax on gasoline is increased on July 1! Remembder in November, folks.