neighborhood BP gas price watch: 07.21.06

Actually, most of the European fuel taxes (particularly in the UK, where we have the most expensive diesel in the world) go not to maintaining infrastructure but simply into the general budget. In other words, drivers pay very much more in fuel taxes than they get back in government money spent on roads. Zimmerman is espousing a popular viewpoint, but he forgets that governments are run by venial humans.

But under the U.S. system, most of the money is going to oil execs. The "argument" that Europeans pay more for gas than Americans do so the skyrocketing price of gas here is okay relies on an unfair comparison.

I live in Europe also and pay a bit more for gas than I would in the US, and yes, the money goes to general budget funds. But that's still better than it going to the oil companies (I note that Exxon had record profits again). Also, the US government subsidizes gas in the US to support interstate commerce and the workforce. Americans have to drive farther to get to work and shopping and such, and more Americans drive than Europeans. Americans have been a bit spoiled by these subsidies, in place for years to promote the US economy. The two markets cannot be fairly compared; the reasons for the price discrepancy do not compare.

And yet the two markets ARE constantly compared in the mainstream American media. It's supposed to make us idiot consumers feel better, that we're not paying as much as Europeans are for gas. But there's never any kind of in-depth explanation of why the price of gas is so high in European and why it's not at all comparable to the price of gas in the U.S.