Gas Prices By County

From Gas Buddy:

Comments

[Matt]

Looks a little bit like these maps

[Michael W. Kruse]

Hmmm... Interesting. Why do you suppose that is?

[Matt]

Higher taxes and higher costs of refining, made possible by Democrats and/or environmentalists. Take your pick.

A legitimate argument can be made that the external costs of consuming gas (pollution, gridlock, national security) can be offset by a higher tax, but anyone pointing the finger at the White House or Big Oil needs to take a look at this map and see that their local government is also partly to blame.

When was the last time we built an oil refinery? Mucking with the supply of gas lead s to a higher price at the pump, so there's more sales tax revenue and it becomes easier to justify a bigger gas tax per gallon. That's my conspiracy theory.

[Michael W. Kruse]

Your observation about local (and state) government having an impact was one of the first things I noted. I suspect the blue states have higher regulatory requirements and higher taxes.

"That's my conspiracy theory."

When I saw Elvis yesterday, he was suggesting the same theory. :)