Gas prices are going up again in the Commonwealth and this time you can't blame the dealers, their wholesale suppliers or the Arabs.
This latest price increase comes courtesy of our state government in Frankfort and although July's scheduled 2.4 cent increase doesn't sound like much, when you consider that the total take on every gallon of gasoline that the state pockets is now 32.3 cents a gallon or approximately 8.5% of the cost of every gallon you pump.
When combined with Uncle Sam's take, 18.4 cents per gallon, local taxes that can vary and a smidgeon of a percentage that goes to a fund that cleans up gasoline tank seepage, Kentuckians pay more than 50 cents a gallon, or approximately 14%, in taxes.
Gasoline taxes are the result of a slew of state and federal tax laws intended to raise funds to keep highways maintained. In Kentucky, the increase is automatic and tied to the average wholesale price of gas. That law has resulted in periodic small increases in our gas tax rate that have aggregated into a rather significant chunk..
The rate has nearly doubled in the past ten years, from 16.4 cents to the new 32.2 cents.
The tax was tied to the wholesale price because of concern that soaring gas prices would cause motorists to buy less gas, causing revenues for road work to plunge while the cost increased.
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