A Forced Rip-Off

I've sent an e-mail out to Governor Phil Bredesen about the outrageous gasoline prices that are haunting the gasoline pumps this fall. The price that gasoline is bought from refineries has plummeted to under $2 per gallon, but the pumps (up until just 2 days ago) were at $3.099 per gallon. That's a full $1.10 gallon above the average that it is originally purchased for. Now you can try to say that the gasoline taxes are too high, or that it costs too much to ship, but that's a bunch of CRAP! I did a little research myself and found a site with the state tax rates on gasoline. And here's how it breaks down for TN.

Gasoline at the pump: 3.099
Purchase price: $1.99 (assuming without taxes)
Federal tax: 18.4 cents
Tennessee gas tax: 20 cents
Special Petrol tax (TN): 1 cent
Environmental assurance (TN): 0.4 cents
Shipping (from gulf coast): 7 cents


That leaves 64.1 cents that are left over. Surely the cost of employment isn't that high. That's a 20% profit margin.

This is a copy of the e-mail that I sent to the Governor:
"I've been sitting here for the past couple of weeks watching gas prices rise at the pumps, and yet the price of a gallon on the New York Mercantile Exchange continues to plummet. Gasoline is being traded on the floor of the exchanges at right at $2 per gallon, but stations here in Pulaski are charging at rates of $3.099 per gallon. This is AFTER the stations had settled from the (lack of) effects from Hurricane Rita. There is no reason for the price to continue increasing if they are buying it at ever lower prices. This looks like nothing more than greedy station owners taking advantage of a gullible and uninformed public.

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/051004/oil_prices.html?.v=14

Thanks For Your Time,
Robert Swick"

The people we elected into office need to realize what's going on and step in.