Gas prices: What the government doesn't tell you about them

It seems almost the entire world is complaining about gas prices right now and for the most part I think this is rightfully so. However, I do think that a lot of people are completely misguided about why this is and while I don't have all the answers, I know some stuff that maybe you don't because of the industry that I am involved in.

The media and the crazies that decide to believe them want everyone to think that gas prices are rising exclusively because of Russia but this is now and always will be a bunch of BS. Oil comes from all over the world and just because one country all of a sudden becomes problematic doesn't mean that the entire world all of a sudden has their prices jump a couple dollars a gallon. I'll admit that it could be a factor to some degree, but to put all the blame on that is political and if people can't see through this propaganda they probably aren't very smart to begin with.

Let me tell you about my experience with fuel, because it is a major part of my life

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I own and operate a medium-sized construction contracting company and we work on a wide-variety of projects. Most of these jobs to one degree or another involve the use of heavy equipment that uses massive amounts of diesel and this is built into the cost of the job. Of course we do a markup and this is how we make money. This is the entire reason why all contractors exist, including my own company. I will readily admit that our markup is pretty damn big and so is everyone else's and this is the reason why contractors are kind of loathed by many industries. We get away with it because we can do jobs that no one else can.

Now let's get down to the fuel and how I buy thousands of gallons of it at a time.

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The price of fuel is around $4 a gallon in North Carolina, and as you can tell by the graphic above, this is right in line with the national average. Some states are dramatically more expensive than the national average an the other day I saw a video of California where gas prices were at nearly $8 a gallon, which is something that would get me really upset as well.

While the leftist media is quick to blame this on Russia and the right-leaning media blames it on Biden shutting down pipelines no one talks about where the bulk of this cost actually comes from and that is the government themselves. Government loves taxes and they tax the absolute hell out of gasoline. This is why certain states have gas that is twice as expensive as a state right next to it. It has nothing to do with logistics, which is likely what they would claim but it is just completely false.

Depending on the project that we are working on we are entitled to a tax exemption on our job fuel purchase. These are normally projects done for the government and one of the jobs we are doing now is precisely that. Therefore, we get diesel that has a purple dye in it that is a special kind of fuel that you pay NO TAX on. So if you go to the gas station to fill up your diesel pickup truck you will, in fact, pay $4 a gallon. The fuel that I buy that is tax free is just over $2 a gallon. I can not use this fuel off the job site and will get in a lot of trouble if I try to do so - hence the easily identifiable purple dye that will color the exhaust.

This used to be around $1.50 a gallon for the tax-free fuel so while I will agree that yes, the price has gone up, the way that they are pointing the finger is totally misguided in a lot of situations. The reason why gas is expensive as hell is because of the same reason why cigarettes and other items are so expensive: It's because the government has to get their piece of the pie. Does the government deserve a 100% tax on fuel? I would say definitely not but then again I am against almost all taxes and feel that it is theft for the most part.

If the government wanted to ease the cost of fuel on the population they definitely could do so by temporarily suspending the taxes on it but do you think they will do that? Of course not but in the meantime they quickly and unanimously will vote for a salary increase for all of the members of Congress.

Your anger is misguided is what I am trying to say. You should be looking at your elected leaders and get ALL OF THEM out. They are the problem and I say this of both conservatives and liberals. They are all in the same gang that is stealing from the population every day and merely pretend to be on different sides of the fence to keep their positions.