YAKIMA, Wash.- According to the American Automobile Association (AAA), Washington currently has the most expensive gas in the country, at $4.99 a gallon. Last week, gas averaged $4.89 a gallon in Clark County, according to The Seattle Times.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration states that four components make up retail price: the cost of crude oil, refining costs, and profits. distribution and marketing costs. The state, local, and federal government taxes also contribute to the selling price of gasoline. The federal gas tax is 18.40 cents per gallon.
Forbes Mercy, president of Washington Broadband says that he has multiple vehicles to operate his business. He went from paying $300 to $400 a month to $1,000 to $1,200 in gas.
“Oil companies who use a marketing technique called, what the market can bear, which means they’re going to raise the prices high as they can until people stop buying the gas and then they lower it back down,” said Mercy.
“And now that, that’s a commonplace practice, it adds to the inflation, it gives them the 15 billion dollars in quarterly profit they get and, in the end, we’re the only ones who end up paying for that.”
