# Gas and Taxes

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gas-and-taxes/534909>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [April 4, 2010, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gas-and-taxes/534909 "2010-04-04T14:50:49Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\
**Post date:** [April 5, 2010, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gas-and-taxes/534909/21 "2010-04-05T04:42:46Z")

</div>

> [@Wesley\_Clark](#):
>
> Why would it triple electricity costs? If filling up a tank costs $6 in taxes, and a tank fill gives about 300 miles that is about $20/month in taxes per car. Electric bills are closer to $100/month for many families, and usually higher.

That’s what he said. Running the figures, your estimate is actually quite close. [The average household pays $99.70 per month for electricity.](http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/esr/table5.xls) (Excel spreadsheet) Since the US government is making about $40 billion per year on gas taxes and there are about [115 million households in the US](http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_households_are_in_the_US), each household is paying about $348 per year in gas taxes, or $29 per month. So it would be a 30% increase. That’s not insubstantial, but not three times, no.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\
**Post date:** [April 5, 2010, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gas-and-taxes/534909/22 "2010-04-05T05:38:21Z")

</div>

> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#):
>
> The interstate commerce clause applies to the power of the Federal government, not to the actions of states.
> 
> You are thinking of the Full Faith and Credit clause, which mandates that states respect the public acts of other states - marriages, and the like. California doesn’t have to let your car in if it doesn’t want to, just as it doesn’t have to let your firearm in.
> 
> It does have to honor your out-of-state driver’s license, though.

Wouldn’t stopping cars at the border, and turning them back, be considered an illegal restriction on interstate commerce, something which can only be controlled by the federal government? Stopping firearms would not be.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\
**Post date:** [April 5, 2010, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gas-and-taxes/534909/23 "2010-04-05T15:10:49Z")

</div>

> [@Voyager](#):
>
> Wouldn’t stopping cars at the border, and turning them back, be considered an illegal restriction on interstate commerce, something which can only be controlled by the federal government? Stopping firearms would not be.

in what sense do you think a car being driven across a border is ‘interstate commerce?’ you’re stil free to enter the state, just not in that car.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gas-and-taxes/534909.md?page=1)