How much tax do you pay per gallon of fuel?

[Taranwanderer]

Originally Posted by jimh

At 5 cents / gal profit....just think how much the gov is gettinh at 50+cents/gal from all gas/diesel sales....

Especially when the oil companies only make .05¢ a gallon and the Fed takes .50¢ for doing nothing. The get that .50¢ for nothing--they have nothing to do with the extraction, transport, refining, and distribution of the fuel but they get their cut. It's criminal. I don't begrudge the oil companies for their profits...not one bit. If we were to be more energy self-sufficient in North America and be able to tell OPEC to shove it, the price per barrel would drop to nothing and the pump price would actually be affordable--even with the government's mafia-like tax collection. But heaven forbid we drill for oil somewhere where we might disturb a flock of geese or a herd of elk...

Don't get me started.

[Coops1]

I read somewhere their profit last year averaged 400,000/employee

Originally Posted by spinningbull

Anyone know what apples margin is? If I remember right, its about 5x exxons.

[campdohbrew]

Originally Posted by cfsoistman

OUCH !!!!!! That's a buck a mile for us Georgetownians
It's incredible when you see or hear the 9 billion dollar plus profits these companies make. Would it be so bad to just make like 5 billion dollars profit and give us a little break. At a cheaper price they'd sell more product and probably end up with about the same profit anyway.

If you are referring to a government mandated profit limitation placed on corporations whereas the excess is redistributed, the short answer is: Yes, that would be a very bad thing. In fact, that is exactly what U. S. Senator Huey P. Long wanted to do in the 1930s and ironically, his largest target was the Standard Oil Corporation (today, known as Exxon). Long was assassinated by Dr. Carl Weiss, MD in 1935 as he was preparing to run for the presidency.

[ShannonHarmon]

Hi there.
I don't pay tax for fuel. I don't have a car.
Budum tss.

[ng2951]

...It's incredible when you see or hear the 9 billion dollar plus profits these companies make. Would it be so bad to just make like 5 billion dollars profit and give us a little break. At a cheaper price they'd sell more product and probably end up with about the same profit anyway

You are absolutely wrong.

Presently oil companies are not manufacturering anywhere near record rates. A number of manufacturering sites (refineries) are running at 1/2 of their capacity.

Back under the previous administration when the unemployment rate was half of what it is now, manufacturering sites were running at 100% of capacity. Some much manufactured product was being consumed, the oil companies could not perform maintenance without almost immediately spiking fuel prices. If a plant had a fire, a power interruption, you would see an almost immediate $0.02-$0.05/gal increase.

With the low demand for fuel, mostly due to the poor economy, one should wonder why fuel prices are so high. The multi trillion dollars in Greece-like debt being added without a corresponding massive increase in GDP has inflated fuel (and everything else) prices.

Take a second to consider what just a trillion dollars is. America is a country of about 300 million people. If the president just decided to give one million dollars to one million Americans that would cost a trillion dollars (unless you add the government's overhead of 50% to hand out these checks). But we are talking about a minimum of $3-$4 trillion dollars. In actuallity if this money were handed out directly, overnight, you would have better than 1% of America having new millionaires! (Instead of the stockholders in Solyndra)

In the current economic climate where these monies are being spent so unwisely (because no sustainable growth is being created with these trillions) if the unemployment dips significantly, energy prices will skyrocket (more demand, inflated dollars spent for fuel feedstocks). Once that happens, the economy will probably tank big-time.

This limits how government keep energy prices down (mostly to keep their jobs). Probably the techniques they will elect to do is something like the ill-fated Windfall Profit Tax, Wage and Price controls. All these suceeded to do was create rationing and shortages.

In order to have feedstocks for fuels at resonable prices, oil companies have to explore. We spent a few billion dollars of the Brazilian coast to buy surplus oil from a friendly country. We let China have it after helping the Brazilians...go figure.

Now we have an opportunity to have oil delivered through a safe, economical pipeline from a very friendly country. It will take a few years to put the pipe into Texas.

What is sillier still is that we might let this oil go to China on a bunch of foreign flag ships. So oil will be shipped by a means a lot less safe than a pipeline through notoriously treacherous weather and then the US will buy the surplus from China.

None of this is rocket science. Its all pretty simple supply/demand and competitive environment.

[Taranwanderer]

Originally Posted by ShannonHarmon

Hi there.
I don't pay tax for fuel. I don't have a car.
Budum tss.

Uhh...OK. So how do you get to work, or tow your TT or camper for that matter? If you don't have a camper/TT/Forest River product, then why are you even bothering to comment here?

And WTF is "budum tss?"

[myredracer]

Oh great, now you have my blood boiling!! We live in the outskirts of Vancouver, BC and have to pay the full regional taxes which includes for regional transit. However, we are forced to pay for mass transit despite being in a rural area with not even an occasional bus.

Since we often go into the US to pick up things from our US mailbox (shipping is way cheaper on internet purchases within the US, but that's a whole other topic!), we buy gas there at a fraction of the local cost plus we get a good discount from buying groceries at the supermarket there. And then sometimes we drive a few short miles outside the metro Vancouver boundary and save about 40 cents a gallon.

Gas companies in Canada micro-manage their prices on a daily/hourly basis. They say they are only responding to changes in supply and demand. Come on - on an hourly basis? Usually, you can tell what day of the week it is by looking at the posted gas prices. It's usually better to buy gas on a Saturday or end of the week because on a Sunday, they know that most people gas up on a Sunday for their drive to work on Monday morning and they can get away with ripping us off.

And what about that stupid carbon tax that they said would lead to more people car-pooling, working at home or riding a bike to work?? Yeah right... How come so many people drive SUVs and trucks these days then? (Don't look at RVers and their trucks of course, 'cuz we don't drive them 24/7!)

It makes us wonder how US States like Oregon have no sales tax yet have a great freeway system that is always being worked on.

FWIW, my wife carpools to work (a long way into her office) and her carpool partner refuses to accept gas money because she said if you get in an accident, the insurance company and lawyers would say that you are acting as an unlicensed chauffeur and your insurance would be void. You've got to be kidding.

[cfsoistman]

Originally Posted by ng2951

You are absolutely wrong.

Presently oil companies are not manufacturering anywhere near record rates. A number of manufacturering sites (refineries) are running at 1/2 of their capacity.

Back under the previous administration when the unemployment rate was half of what it is now, manufacturering sites were running at 100% of capacity. Some much manufactured product was being consumed, the oil companies could not perform maintenance without almost immediately spiking fuel prices. If a plant had a fire, a power interruption, you would see an almost immediate $0.02-$0.05/gal increase.

With the low demand for fuel, mostly due to the poor economy, one should wonder why fuel prices are so high. The multi trillion dollars in Greece-like debt being added without a corresponding massive increase in GDP has inflated fuel (and everything else) prices.

Take a second to consider what just a trillion dollars is. America is a country of about 300 million people. If the president just decided to give one million dollars to one million Americans that would cost a trillion dollars (unless you add the government's overhead of 50% to hand out these checks). But we are talking about a minimum of $3-$4 trillion dollars. In actuallity if this money were handed out directly, overnight, you would have better than 1% of America having new millionaires! (Instead of the stockholders in Solyndra)

In the current economic climate where these monies are being spent so unwisely (because no sustainable growth is being created with these trillions) if the unemployment dips significantly, energy prices will skyrocket (more demand, inflated dollars spent for fuel feedstocks). Once that happens, the economy will probably tank big-time.

This limits how government keep energy prices down (mostly to keep their jobs). Probably the techniques they will elect to do is something like the ill-fated Windfall Profit Tax, Wage and Price controls. All these suceeded to do was create rationing and shortages.

In order to have feedstocks for fuels at resonable prices, oil companies have to explore. We spent a few billion dollars of the Brazilian coast to buy surplus oil from a friendly country. We let China have it after helping the Brazilians...go figure.

Now we have an opportunity to have oil delivered through a safe, economical pipeline from a very friendly country. It will take a few years to put the pipe into Texas.

What is sillier still is that we might let this oil go to China on a bunch of foreign flag ships. So oil will be shipped by a means a lot less safe than a pipeline through notoriously treacherous weather and then the US will buy the surplus from China.

None of this is rocket science. Its all pretty simple supply/demand and competitive environment.

As for being 100% wrong, I only posted what I heard on the radio and as it was reported PROFIT is what's retained by these oil companies after all monies are allocated for all of their payouts, reinvestments and ventures etc.
As for increases due to a fire etc. These companies raise prices 5 to 10 cents per gallon over night when they think there might be a bad storm, war or anything else. When nothing happens though it takes forever for it to go down and it's a penny here and there.

[cfsoistman]

Originally Posted by campdohbrew

If you are referring to a government mandated profit limitation placed on corporations whereas the excess is redistributed, the short answer is: Yes, that would be a very bad thing. In fact, that is exactly what U. S. Senator Huey P. Long wanted to do in the 1930s and ironically, his largest target was the Standard Oil Corporation (today, known as Exxon). Long was assassinated by Dr. Carl Weiss, MD in 1935 as he was preparing to run for the presidency.

Where did I mention anything about a mandate??? All I'm saying is a company that makes that kind of profit could give us a break at the pump. No where did I ask them to redistribute the excess profits. However if they want to give any of it away I'm sure I'm not the only one willing to receive some of it.But thanks for the history lesson.

[F and E Damp]

Bear in mind that the UK price per gallon BEFORE taxes is less than in the US. $8 a gallon after taxes sure helps you understand why a Honda Civic is a "mid-size family car". Even the Kia Optima (a 3.8L V6 in the US) is sold in the UK with a 1.7L turbo-diesel.