Editorial: The high price of even higher gas taxes

High gas prices are not exactly new to Pennsylvanians, but this is ridiculous.

Maybe back in September, $3.33 a gallon seemed like the highest they could get, but here we are in October with prices up to $3.50 a gallon. For those wondering, it hasn’t cost that much to fill up your tank since 2014.

It’s bad all over, but in Pennsylvania, the pinch is higher than in most other states. AAA puts Ohio’s average price per gallon at $3.22, while in West Virginia, it’s $3.25 and in Delaware and Maryland, it’s $3.30. In fact, of the Keystone State’s neighbors, only New York and New Jersey top the national average of $3.36, but still come in more affordable at $3.38 and $3.40, respectively.

The reason for high prices at the moment are as simple as the supply-demand collision created by Hurricane Ida’s impact on oil production in the Gulf of Mexico and as complicated as the global economy and a higher call for oil in Europe.

But that’s why everyone is paying more, not why Pennsylvanians pay more than people who live across the border.

For that, you have to look at the extra money paid in one state versus the others.

In Ohio, the gas tax is 38.5 cents. In West Virginia, it’s 33 cents. It’s as low as 23 cents in Delaware. New York’s is 43 cents, and New Jersey’s is 51 cents. But all of them are dwarfed by Pennsylvania’s 59 cents a gallon, higher than any other gas tax in the country but California’s 63 cents.

Gov. Tom Wolf has had PennDOT mulling a different way to raise the money that tax generates, money that goes for some completely understandable things like roads and bridges and some not-so-understandable ones, like paying for a portion of the Pennsylvania State Police budget. The problem with fuel-efficient cars, electric vehicles and mass transportation is that they don’t produce as much revenue, leaving government looking for alternatives.

The state should be considering that gas in the tank means people going to work, trucks delivering products and services being provided — all things that keep the economy humming and make it possible for people to do things like buy their gas and pay their taxes.

But don’t fear, Pennsylvanians. It’s possible the gas tax might not be the second highest in the land for long. Not because it will be going down here, but because of a proposal in New York to raise that state’s tax to a whopping 98 cents per gallon. Unfortunately, that would probably just push Pennsylvania to raise ours to $1.