As I was cursing under my breath at the insanity of paying almost $50 to fill up the tank on a Nissan this weekend, it occurred to me that I really didn't know how much the gas itself cost. I knew what I paid for it, but how much of that is taxes and such? Looking at the receipt, all I saw was the raw amount, not a list of prices for everything that's included.
When you buy groceries, you don't just get a short slip of paper with the final amount. You get an itemized list of what you bought, and how much each of those items cost, along with a sub-total, the amount of tax due, and a grand total.
Why can't they do that with gas receipts? If the excise, sales, and other taxes were listed out, people might realize that it's not the gas station that's making a lot of money from high gas prices. Heck, even the evil petroleum companies aren't making that much more than they were when gas was retailing for $2 a gallon. But I guarantee that the huge percentage of tax that's paid on each and every dollar spent on fuel would cause even the biggest VW Beetle driving hippie to scream in frustration at the pump and slap a Gadsden Flag sticker on the bumper.
When you buy groceries, you don't just get a short slip of paper with the final amount. You get an itemized list of what you bought, and how much each of those items cost, along with a sub-total, the amount of tax due, and a grand total.
Why can't they do that with gas receipts? If the excise, sales, and other taxes were listed out, people might realize that it's not the gas station that's making a lot of money from high gas prices. Heck, even the evil petroleum companies aren't making that much more than they were when gas was retailing for $2 a gallon. But I guarantee that the huge percentage of tax that's paid on each and every dollar spent on fuel would cause even the biggest VW Beetle driving hippie to scream in frustration at the pump and slap a Gadsden Flag sticker on the bumper.
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