EDITORIAL: Pumped up

The average price of gasoline has risen nationally over the past year from $2 a gallon to $2.29, according to AAA. In Las Vegas, the average cost of a gallon currently stands at $2.37 down from $2.55 a year ago.

That’s a far cry from the $4 a gallon Americans paid in the summer of 2008.

But despite relative price stability in the past couple of years, and the fall of crude prices, many motorists can expect to shell out more at the pump next year — and it won’t be because of “greedy Big Oil.”

USA Today reported Wednesday that gasoline taxes in seven states will go up in 2017 and more than a dozen other states are expected to consider higher fuel levies. “State transportation officials and the construction industry contend federal spending hasn’t kept pace with inflation and more fuel-efficient cars,” the paper explained.

Among the states set for a big haul come January are Pennsylvania, where the nation’s highest gasoline tax will rise about 15 percent to more 58 cents a gallon, and Michigan, where the tax per gallon jumps 25 percent to nearly 36 cents.

Local drivers will also see an increase. Southern Nevada voters in November approved a measure to continue tying the county fuel tax to an index of manufacturing costs, which in annual increments is expected to add a total of 36 cents to the cost of a gallon of gasoline in the Las Vegas area by 2026.

It’s easy to forget that federal, state and local taxes represent a significant portion of a driver’s expenses at the pump. Nevada motorists pay at least 52.5 cents in levies for every gallon they feed into their vehicles — the figure is higher in Clark and Washoe counties. At 60 cents a gallon in taxes, various governments are diverting as much as 30 percent of the cost of gasoline into their own coffers.

That’s a bigger profit margin than any energy company can hope to achieve. “In recent decades,” a study by the Tax Foundation concluded, “governments have collected far more revenue from gasoline taxes than the largest U.S. oil companies have collectively earned in domestic profits.”

So the next time you hear grandstanding politicians railing against price gouging and agitating for an investigation into rising gasoline costs, don’t take them too seriously — unless they plan to interrogate a slew of politicians right alongside the oil industry executives.