Which US States Have The Highest And Lowest Gasoline Taxes

zero hedge ^ | 5/19/16 | tyler durden

[Bubba Gump Shrimp]

I would have thought Illinois would be in the top 5 or so.

I know I won’t buy gas in Chicago, especially the Loop area it’s .50 more (I’m guessing from taxes, but could just be from the high cost of owning a gas station in downtown?)

[lkco]

We’re number two!!! Don’t tell our legislators ... they’ll try harder.

[Spktyr]

Having traveled through and lived in small town USA in the tail end of that era... the small town stations on highways were often the worst, as they knew you wouldn’t be coming back and any unprofitable problems they caused would be someone else’s problem far down the road. I especially liked the idiots that would let air *out* of your tires in the hopes you’d have a blowout and have to be towed back (at an exorbitant sum) to have your tire replaced (at a minimum) with an offbrand low performance tire for eight times the price of your existing one.

[billyboy15]

What kills me these days is the spread between regular and premium gas. In recent memory it was ten cents a gallon, then 20, and then 40 when gas was up at $4/gallon. Now that gas is back down to around $2, the spreads range from 40 to 45 cents,...
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The reason is volume. probably 95% of all cars use reg gas. Therefore refineries produce far more reg grade gasoline than premium. The higher price for premium (or lower for reg) is based on the economics of scale. The more of a product which is produced, the less it costs per unit.

[billyboy15]

Of course I do not doubt what you say but being of an age where I recall well those days (1950’s and up) of full service I can say this.

I have experienced nor ever met anyone who experienced any of what you claim. Not to say it never happened since I personally have left my gas tank cap on top of the pump. As far as the tires being checked while warm. I suppose you could simply tell the guy to forget the tires, ditto the windshield and ditto adding oil. The primary purpose of these people is to fill your tank and everything else is a courtesy.

having had my tank filled literally thousands of times by attendants and never having experienced a single one of your complaints leads me to believe it is a “problem” which is in fact not a problem at all?

BTW do you really think adding a quart of oil of a different grade will damage the car? Why would the car need oil anyway unless there was a pretty serious problem.

[Spktyr]

Yeah, by the time of the 1970s and later, it was a different story. Adding a quart of the *wrong* oil to a car can actually cause significant damage. Especially starting with the turbocharged small displacement cars of the 80s and 90s; the wrong grade of oil can cause flow reductions through the smaller oil galleries. This is even more important these days; this is what you can get if you put the wrong oil in your car:

As for why? Well, American cars liked to burn or leak oil on highway trips, and 1500 miles per quart wasn't terribly unusual even for new cars of the day. Some imports liked to do that too. For current high performance turbo cars (as in, sold in this decade) 500 miles per quart is considered normal - just ask your local Mercedes dealer about the 4.7L turbo V8s. Putting the wrong oil in will cause even worse effects - the oil cooks off, plugs passages and dies from oil starvation.

And yes, it was a problem. One station in Nevada topped up the oil on my father's Saab turbo back in the day, a car designed to burn a little oil in the turbo. Weeeelll, the straight 50 weight the idiots at the station put in the car on a hot summer day lunched the engine about 100 miles later. We had a bit of a walk before someone picked us up and took us someplace we could call a tow truck.

[bert]

why is there premium gas now days?

what good does it do?

[billyboy15]

I worked in the auto business in the 70’s and 80’s (Nissan) and we had several small turbo charged models. The requirement for oil then were no different than for normally aspirated cars. Oil formulation was determined by temperature variations within the normal area of driving.

What happened to your dad’s Saab was regrettable but as I said totally anecdotal.

[central_va]

I had a ‘83 Nissan with a turbo. the turbo blew up but was covered under warranty. A turbo blowing up at highway speed was a very exciting thing to witness.

[AZLiberty]

The reason is volume. probably 95% of all cars use reg gas.

That's a good point. My old 2003 Turbo VW sounds like a weedwhacker without premium gas, so I'm stuck paying for it.