Repealing gas-tax increase not a quick fix, speaker says
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
RALEIGH
A repeal of a recent increase in the state gas tax won't guarantee a drop in prices at the pump, an industry representative told legislators grappling with higher gasoline prices yesterday.
"It just depends on what's going on with prices at that time," said Gary Harris, the executive vice president of the N.C. Petroleum Marketers Association.
Harris was among several speakers at the first meeting of a special legislative committee that is examining the state's increasing energy prices, including the nearly 3-cents-a-gallon increase in the gas tax that took effect Sunday.
The state motor-fuel excise tax grew by 2.8 cents a gallon to 29.9 cents, largely because of higher gas prices after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
The tax is recalculated twice each year based on the average wholesale cost of fuel and is among the highest in the United States.
Harris, whose petroleum group proposed last year capping the gas-tax rate, said that if the wholesale price of gasoline rises at the same time that the increase in the tax is repealed, consumers still might pay more.
Still, Sen. Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, the Senate Republican leader, said that consumers would benefit if the tax component of gas prices is reduced.
RALEIGH
A repeal of a recent increase in the state gas tax won't guarantee a drop in prices at the pump, an industry representative told legislators grappling with higher gasoline prices yesterday.
"It just depends on what's going on with prices at that time," said Gary Harris, the executive vice president of the N.C. Petroleum Marketers Association.
Harris was among several speakers at the first meeting of a special legislative committee that is examining the state's increasing energy prices, including the nearly 3-cents-a-gallon increase in the gas tax that took effect Sunday.
The state motor-fuel excise tax grew by 2.8 cents a gallon to 29.9 cents, largely because of higher gas prices after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
The tax is recalculated twice each year based on the average wholesale cost of fuel and is among the highest in the United States.
Harris, whose petroleum group proposed last year capping the gas-tax rate, said that if the wholesale price of gasoline rises at the same time that the increase in the tax is repealed, consumers still might pay more.
Still, Sen. Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, the Senate Republican leader, said that consumers would benefit if the tax component of gas prices is reduced.
posted by Andy W. Rogers | 11:23 PM
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