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Thread: Mystery Surcharge Among Taxes, Fees Added To Gasoline In California

  1. #1

    Mystery Surcharge Among Taxes, Fees Added To Gasoline In California

    A University of California, Berkeley professor is drawing attention to a gasoline “mystery surcharge” in the state – unexplained price increases in gasoline which have cost drivers $20 billion since 2015. Severin Borenstein, professor at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business and former chairman of the state’s Petroleum Market Advisory Committee, has spent several years crunching the numbers, trying to account for the state’s gas prices, some of the highest in the country.
    “I’m very confident in the calculations, it’s really basic arithmetic,” said Borenstein.


    The surcharges began in 2015, when the refinery explosion in Torrance caused what was expected to be a temporary spike in gas prices, according to Borenstein. However, the surcharge remained ever since.
    “Starting in 2015, they were about 40 cents above where you would expect them to be in 2015. And in 2016, ’17, and ’18, they were between 25 and 30 cents higher than what you would expect,” said Borenstein. “In total, that amounts to paying an extra $20 billion in gasoline since February 2015.
    “It’s a payment that’s not going to the government, it’s going to the sellers. Where in the distribution chain it’s ending up, we don’t know. It could be it’s going to refiners. It could be that it’s going to the middle men who buy and sell gasoline along the way. The pipeline owners, the distributors, the retailers, all of them, or some of them could be getting some of that $20 billion. And it could be that it’s covering a legitimate cost, but we should find out what that extra cost is, because it wasn’t there for the previous 15 years.”


    In January, 19 state legislators sent a letter to Attorney General Xavier Becerra asking him to lead a formal investigation. Becerra has not publicly commented and the state Department of Justice typically does not announce investigations.
    “So something is going on the California gasoline market. It could be that there are fewer manufacturers making California gasoline. It could be that it’s become more difficult to import gasoline because of some problem at the ports or with the pipelines or storage tanks. It seems like the state putting in some real resources to find out is well worth it.”
    Borenstein estimates that since 2015, each California driver has spent about $500 on the mystery surcharges, which amounts to $11 million per day, and $4 billion per year.
    “If that extra cost is due to some government regulation or policy, we need to look into whether that is something we can alter in a way that we don’t have to pay more for gasoline,” he said.

    https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/20...ne-california/
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  3. #2

  4. #3
    Damn, they pay over $1 more for a gallon of gas.
    Pfizer Macht Frei!

    Openly Straight Man, Danke, Awarded Top Rated Influencer. Community Standards Enforcer.


    Quiz: Test Your "Income" Tax IQ!

    Short Income Tax Video

    The Income Tax Is An Excise, And Excise Taxes Are Privilege Taxes

    The Federalist Papers, No. 15:

    Except as to the rule of appointment, the United States have an indefinite discretion to make requisitions for men and money; but they have no authority to raise either by regulations extending to the individual citizens of America.

  5. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by Danke View Post
    Damn, they pay over $1 more for a gallon of gas.
    And they are talking about raising it even more with additional taxes.

  6. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by Danke View Post
    Damn, they pay over $1 more for a gallon of gas.
    Where are you getting it for under $1? Not in the US.

    https://gasprices.aaa.com/state-gas-price-averages/

  7. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by Danke View Post
    Damn, they pay over $1 more for a gallon of gas.
    I was buying gas for as little as $3.09 a couple months ago, now it's all around $4/gallon.. which is pretty typical, we get a big seasonal uptick in cost in the spring going into summer. Gotta gouge all the tourists and travelers (even the local ones).
    Last edited by dannno; 04-21-2019 at 01:34 PM.
    "He's talkin' to his gut like it's a person!!" -me
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    "You don't need a medical degree to spot obvious bullshit, that's actually a separate skill." -Scott Adams
    "When you are divided, and angry, and controlled, you target those 'different' from you, not those responsible [controllers]" -Q

    "Each of us must choose which course of action we should take: education, conventional political action, or even peaceful civil disobedience to bring about necessary changes. But let it not be said that we did nothing." - Ron Paul

    "Paul said "the wave of the future" is a coalition of anti-authoritarian progressive Democrats and libertarian Republicans in Congress opposed to domestic surveillance, opposed to starting new wars and in favor of ending the so-called War on Drugs."

  8. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by Zippyjuan View Post
    Where are you getting it for under $1? Not in the US.

    https://gasprices.aaa.com/state-gas-price-averages/
    "He's talkin' to his gut like it's a person!!" -me
    "dumpster diving isn't professional." - angelatc
    "You don't need a medical degree to spot obvious bullshit, that's actually a separate skill." -Scott Adams
    "When you are divided, and angry, and controlled, you target those 'different' from you, not those responsible [controllers]" -Q

    "Each of us must choose which course of action we should take: education, conventional political action, or even peaceful civil disobedience to bring about necessary changes. But let it not be said that we did nothing." - Ron Paul

    "Paul said "the wave of the future" is a coalition of anti-authoritarian progressive Democrats and libertarian Republicans in Congress opposed to domestic surveillance, opposed to starting new wars and in favor of ending the so-called War on Drugs."

  9. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by Zippyjuan View Post
    Where are you getting it for under $1? Not in the US.

    https://gasprices.aaa.com/state-gas-price-averages/
    This Zippy is clueless.



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  11. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by dannno View Post
    The person they gave us today is dumb as a rock. How the $#@! am I supposed to debate him?

  12. #10
    California demands a unique blend of additives in the hope it'll reduce ozone production in your cylinders.
    Quote Originally Posted by Swordsmyth View Post
    We believe our lying eyes...

  13. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by Danke View Post
    Damn, they pay over $1 more for a gallon of gas.
    Quote Originally Posted by Zippyjuan View Post
    Where are you getting it for under $1? Not in the US.

    https://gasprices.aaa.com/state-gas-price-averages/
    Quote Originally Posted by timosman View Post
    The person they gave us today is dumb as a rock. How the $#@! am I supposed to debate him?
    Today in Arkansas. $2.53

    Here in MN, $2.69

    California: $4.00
    Pfizer Macht Frei!

    Openly Straight Man, Danke, Awarded Top Rated Influencer. Community Standards Enforcer.


    Quiz: Test Your "Income" Tax IQ!

    Short Income Tax Video

    The Income Tax Is An Excise, And Excise Taxes Are Privilege Taxes

    The Federalist Papers, No. 15:

    Except as to the rule of appointment, the United States have an indefinite discretion to make requisitions for men and money; but they have no authority to raise either by regulations extending to the individual citizens of America.

  14. #12
    As paranoid as the EPA and California's CARB are about ozone, it's funny they're so determined to push EVs. Electric motors make the O2 in the nearby air turn into O3. Old Lionel trains make so much you can smell the stuff.
    Quote Originally Posted by Swordsmyth View Post
    We believe our lying eyes...

  15. #13
    I made arrangements for california mystery surcharges to be direct deposited in my checking account . These will be used to combat global warming and time changes among other things.
    Do something Danke

  16. #14
    Is it possible that it is an OPEC retribution?

  17. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by Danke View Post
    Today in Arkansas. $2.53

    Here in MN, $2.69

    California: $4.00
    I pd 2.61 yesterday in Glasgow , Kentucky on muh way back to the Land of Indians .
    Do something Danke

  18. #16
    CA Logic: Raise Gas Taxes, Then Demand An Investigation Into Why Gas Prices Are High

    These people actually hiked the gasoline tax, and are now demanding an investigation into why gas prices are higher in California ...
    "Let it not be said that we did nothing." - Dr. Ron Paul. "Stand up for what you believe in, even if you are standing alone." - Sophie Magdalena Scholl
    "War is the health of the State." - Randolph Bourne "Freedom is the answer. ... Now, what's the question?" - Ernie Hancock.



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