Today’s fuel price musings - Hopefully we inch back down now

Add comment June 8th, 2009

First off, great discussion on the comments section of my weekend story on gas prices. We have some smart readers!

We didn’t go over $3 a gallon this weekend, and it appears prices around Rockford have dropped a few cents today, according to illinoisgasprices.com and Road Ranger’s Web site. But we’ll see if it continues … or if the rest of the country catches up to us.

Here are the prices from before today’s changes (courtesy of AAA’s fuelgaugereport.com):

Gasoline: Rockford rose more than a cent to $2.92 a gallon today, and nine cents over the weekend. That’s a 21-cent hike in the past week and 70-cent hike in the past month.We’re second in the state and 17th of the nation’s 280 metro areas. Chicago is ahead of us, as is much of Michigan. In fact, Michigan as a state has the highest prices in the country, and five of the top eight states are in the Midwest. Those refineries can’t get back online soon enough.

The Illinois average rose half a cent to $2.87 a gallon, up five cents over the weekend. $2.82 a gallon. That’s a 17-cent hike in the past week and 52-cent hike in the past month. The national average rose half a cent to $2.62 a  gallon, up three cents over the weekend. That’s a 12-cent hike in the past week and a 41-cent hike in the past month. Illinois has the fourth-highest gas prices in the nation, including the District of Columbia

Diesel: Rockford rose almost four cents to $2.58 a gallon, up eight cents over the weekend. That’s an 18-cent hike in the past week and 36-cent hike in the past month. We have the third-highest diesel prices in the state. The state average rose two cents to $2.61, up five cents over the weekend. That’s a 15-cent hike in the past week and 30-cent hike in the past month. The national average rose a cent to $2.52, up four cents over the weekend. That’s a 14-cent hike in the past week and 24-cent hike in the past month. Illinois has the ninth-highest diesel prices in the country, including the District of Columbia

How should Rockford pay for commuter rail?

2 comments June 8th, 2009

That’s the multimillion-dollar question, and according to a new survey, local residents are split on the answer.

Asked about increases to the sales tax, property tax, income tax, gas tax or vehicle registration fee, almost 36 percent said “none of the above”, which isn’t a surprise. What is a surprise is that sales tax was the most popular, while a gas tax was the last popular.

It’s pretty clear that commuter rail in Rockford needs some sort of funding option besides fares to keep going. Mass transit without government subsidy doesn’t generally work because fares would be too high to get enough users. But other forms of transportation are government-subsidized - how many airports and highways are paid by taxes? Why should mass transit be any different?

In my mind, a gas tax would seem to make a lot of sense - you’d be paying a tax to fund something that could help you pay less of said tax. Using gas taxes to fund alternative transportation projects could also help level off gas prices in general - it’s both a disincentive to drive as much and an incentive to use another mode, thus reducing demand for gasoline. Despite the conspiracy theorists out there, supply and demand are still the key driver in gas prices.

But maybe I’m missing something. Why are folks more in favor of a sales tax and against a gas tax hike? What do you think is the best funding option. I’ll even include a very non-scientific poll, but I’m particularly interested in the discussion.