BY FRANCES NUAR – Yes, I’m sure you all know what I am talking about and are flinching even as you read this. Hawaii has recently had the distinction of being the first state in recent years to top $4 a gallon for gas. Ouch. (I mean, it cost me more than FIVE dollars today to fill up my moped. This is unprecedented.)
Right now in Hawaii the average price of a gallon of regular gasoline is $4.08. If you were (lucky?) enough to live in Wyoming you would only be paying $3.28 a gallon, much closer to the national average of $3.57.
Gasoline taxes in Hawaii are the third highest in the nation, right at the heels of the infamously taxed California and New York. At 64.2 cents per gallon, Hawaii is a full 16.1 cents above the national average of gasoline taxes.
So our high gas prices aren’t only because the Jones Act drives up the cost of shipping to the islands or because we are in the middle of the Pacific. They are also high because our legislators choose year after year to raise gasoline taxes.
When will Hawaii, California and New York realize it’s not a competition to see who can tax their citizens the most?