How Do Gas Taxes Fare In New York Versus The Rest Of The Country

Over the weekend, while I was working on replacing a fence in my backyard. A friend who was helping me (okay, he did most the work and I was the assistant), was talking about a trip he took over the summer to Tennessee.

He mentioned the average gas prices in Gatlinburg, where he was vacationing, were around $1.80. Wow, that's a lot cheaper than we pay in New York and Pennsylvania. Why is it so much cheaper? Well, could it be the amount of state taxes we pay per gallon? That would be my assessment.

USA Today reports that currently, Tennessee state and federal taxes combined are 45.8 cents per gallon. In New York, it's 61.52 cents per gallon, which makes the state the sixth highest in the country.

Credit: George Petras/USA Today

And then there's the state of Pennsylvania. I remember back when I started camping in the state, the gas prices averaged about 20 cents lower than New York. I would wait until I crossed the border to fill up my gas tank. Well, that ended a few years ago when the state taxes rocketed the prices up past New York rates.

Currently, the state and federal taxes combined according to USA Today in Pennsylvania is 77.1 cents per gallon. That makes the state the second highest gas tax rate. California takes the number one spot with 80.87 cents per gallon.

But, the good news is, gas prices are much lower that we've seen in several years. And if you join rewards clubs that are offered by some companies, you will save even more. During this time when we all need to watch where our money goes, I'm glad we're not paying what we did years ago when the price flirted with four dollars per gallon.

via USA Today