West Kentucky Star

Kentucky

(26) Comments

A gas pump
PHOTO:specialevents.com

Kentucky Gas Tax Set to Increase in July

By AP

LOUISVILLE, KY - Gas prices are getting ready to go up again in Kentucky.

On July 1, the state's gas tax will increase 2.1 cents per gallon. That means motorists will be paying nearly 30 cents in state taxes for each gallon they purchase. The increase is automatic because Kentucky's tax is tied to the average cost of wholesale gas, which has been rising. Kentucky Transportation Cabinet spokesman Chuck Wolfe told The Courier-Journal that the increase is expected to generate about $57 million next year for the state Road Fund.

The newspaper reports that the state's gas tax has increase more than 80 percent since 2003.

When added to the federal tax of 18.4 cents per gallon, motorists pay a total tax of 48.3 cents for each gallon of gas purchased.

Published 09:30 PM, Thursday Jun. 14, 2012
Updated 11:56 AM, Saturday Jun. 16, 2012

Please login to leave a comment.

View (26) Comments
- Name: M C.
  
  6/21/2012 9:44:44 AM
  
  Yeah, Chuck, lets get back to the 50's when everything was separate and equal and women knew there place. Charles, dream on, and in case you didn't notice, Chuck drew first blood on that one by making assumptions about some imagined sense of entitlement that he thinks I have. He can play that bully card with someone else. And Charles, just because you don't understand something, that doesn't make it a non sequitur.
  
  Report Abuse
  
  Name: Chuck W.
  
  6/20/2012 8:15:45 PM
  
  MC, first I truly am grateful that this economy has not hurt you (yet). However, there are 40 Million of your fellow citizens (myself included) that can not say that. I have lost quite a bit in the last two years, and I honestly hope it does not happen to you. Now, for someone that does not care about politics, you sure talk about it a lot. Last, you are correct about what OPEC has done in the past. Even if that did happen, there will be a massive amount of disposable income that is going into our gas tanks that will still flood the economy. However, OPEC is not going to do what they have done in the past for one big reason. We now know that we have more oil reserves then they do. A lot more. They will run out in about 70-90 years, they will not be in a hurry to go broke transcend back to being desert farmers again. They come down, which was part of the scenario I laid out, but they will not crash the market on purpose because it will hurt them a lot more then it will hurt us. No take a chill pill and calm down. I do agree with you on one thing. I would give up my computer, my cell phone, my HD TV, and anything else it would take to get America back to the 50's. And then we could start over again without being taken as fools like we are now. We would fight off the taking of God our of our schools, we would fight a lot harder to prevent the selfish slaughter of babies, we would listen to our grandparents more, and professors less, and we would keep our spots in our church pews. Damn Skippy, I will take Happy Days over this mess anytime.
  
  Report Abuse
  
  Name: charles m.
  
  6/20/2012 6:41:08 PM
  
  Pull it over, M.C., calm down. Sooner or later, your personal insults and attacks against commentators such as Chuck W. are going to get you kicked off this site. That would be a shame, because your screeds and non sequiturs give commentators such as Chuck W. arguments to refute, which they do frequently and very well.
  
  Report Abuse
  
  Name: Joe S.
  
  6/20/2012 2:01:29 PM
  
  From a road maintenance cost viewpoint, what matters more is the miles that someone drives more than the cost of gas. Sure, cheaper gas encourages more miles of driving, but that would just mean that we would need to build more miles of highway lanes to handle the additional demand -- and we don't have the money to upkeep the roads we already built! Basically, lower gas prices would encourage more congestion that we won't be able to pay to resolve by building more lanes and the increased traffic will only pound the pavement more so that the pavement gets worse faster -- so it will ultimately make things worse!
  
  Report Abuse
  
  Name: M C.
  
  6/20/2012 10:03:38 AM
  
  Chuck, you don't know a thing about me, how hard I work or how "entitled" I feel, which is not at all. You are just scared old man who believes any paranoid fantasy told to you as long as it fits your 1950's world view. Guess what? It doesn't matter to me who wins the Presidential election, I will manage just fine, on my own, and I won't be whining about how I'm not "doing real good" because it's all the Presidents fault. Oh, and guess what will happen when we "start drilling again". OPEC will flood the market and make all that new drilling unprofitable. Besides, I thought those OPEC fellows like Obama since he is a fellow Muslim and all, isn't that one of your paranoias?
  
  Report Abuse
  
  Name: Judy T.
  
  6/20/2012 9:57:46 AM
  
  Chuck w: It all sounds great but I have a few questions. What was the price of gas when Bush was president? Wasn't it at one time nearing $4.00 a gallon? Is OPCE (set up by Henry Kissinger) the problem or is it the speculators? As for the drilling and EPA I think we have to look at the Gulf of Mexico and ask how many more disasters can we survive? The Gulf is in bad shape from that last one done against EPA rules. Next question is why wasn't all of that drilling done while Bush was president? We knew back then where there was lots of oil. Prices were once set by supply and demand but the supply of gasoline in this country is above the demand and we are exporting it. We could probably be processing more if some of the refineries has not been sold off in the past few years at 10 cents on the dollar or closed down. I would love to see things return to what they once were buy it seems that we have been put on the road to a third world country and not just in the past 3 years. As for the coal have you seen what is left after strip mining, what it does to the water of the area? They need to find a way to keep the emissions clean because the heavy metal from the coal burning is killing our coral reefs. Aren't those coral reefs somewhere in the beginning of the cycle that keeps life on this planet going? I am not an environmental nut who wants to lock up an area because of the purple three towed frog or something but I do believe that we should be careful not to mess in our nest. Its the only one available. I do wish that they would let someone develop Tesla technology then neither oil nor coal would be of interest.
  
  Report Abuse
  
  Name: Chuck W.
  
  6/19/2012 10:01:41 PM
  
  MC, I perhaps what Joe S is saying is that he had to do these thing in order to keep the lights on and put food on the table. We were paying about half for a gallon of gas then we were when Obama was elected. He is not alone. BONUS = WHEN, not if but WHEN, Obama loses, we will see all kinds of drilling start up fast. Oil and natural gas will explode. We have enough resources to provide for our needs for a couple centuries at least. Jobs will be created. Good jobs. Lots of jobs. Tax revenues will start to go up. EPA regulations that do not do anything but increase the cost of goods with no real benefit, they will be taken off the books. Coal will start up again. Cost of goods will come down, more jobs created. We will be able to hire more police, firemen, and teachers. When OPEC sees that we got rid of the panty waist Marxist, they will do what they did every time we have elected a strong leader, lower the price of crude. Between that and the move towards producing our own fuel, price at the pump will go down. When fuel prices start to come down, the cost of many other things will start to come down also. That will result in more disposable income going back into the economy. More jobs will be created. We will be living better. More tax revenues, more public services. More jobs. This will continue and life will get better and better until that time comes that people like you will decide that they are "entitled" to more for free, and then another loser will be elected, and we will go through this process again. I have spent the last 10+ years helping business owners learn how to make more money then they have ever thought they could. Once Obama is gone is I will be doing real good again. I would have charged $1500 for what I just gave you for free. Learn or lose, the choice is yours.
  
  Report Abuse
  
  Name: M C.
  
  6/19/2012 4:47:58 PM
  
  But Joe, higher MPG means a less safe car and anyone who advocates for it wants children to die. Or so I heard from Republicans the last time raising the standards was brought up.
  
  Report Abuse
  
  Name: Joe S.
  
  6/19/2012 2:56:47 PM
  
  I'm just being frugal -- that's more conservative -- with my money and the time I spend driving.
  
  Report Abuse
  
  Name: M C.
  
  6/19/2012 10:54:18 AM
  
  That's just what the librul's wanted, Joe. You played right into their hands.
  
  Report Abuse
  
  Name: Joe S.
  
  6/18/2012 12:40:19 PM
  
  Yep Eddy. That works. There are plenty of other ways too. I drove 20K miles a year a few decades ago. I'm driving 5K a year now! I'm actually paying less gasoline tax now that I did a few decades ago because of it. How did I do it? I moved! I got a more fuel efficient car!
  
  Report Abuse
  
  Name: eddy a.
  
  6/18/2012 8:22:03 AM
  
  There is one way that you can get around not paying the gas tax.Get a horse they dont burn gas they just eat grass.
  
  Report Abuse
  
  Name: eddy a.
  
  6/18/2012 7:04:21 AM
  
  The government would love to tax everything that you buy.The way that they look at it is the government needs the money more than you do.We could have good roads in america,but the government wants to look big in the eyes of other nations of the world giving them our money.This is what they think about you.You are totaly nothing to them so be a good little boy and girl and pay your taxes so they can give it away to other nations and their dictators.Just look at what the middle east has cost this nation over the years.What did we get back in return,"NOTHING".America can not be like old roman was back in their time.America wants to run the world and tell everybody what they can do and can not do in their own country.In the future all these nations that we think that are our friends will be friends no more and we will be in a great war with all these nations.The only thing that they want from america is our money.So wake-up and get your head out of the hole and smell the coffee and get ready for work so you can pay your taxes.
  
  Report Abuse
  
  Name: Tim T.
  
  6/18/2012 6:37:28 AM
  
  "tax is tied to average wholesale cost of gas". How is that not tied to the price again? Yes I see in the story how the state calls it a user fee. That is why they keep calling it a user fee. Geez what a way to read what u want it to read. I have seen how they waste money. I've seen them "repair" a road and when they are done it is drastically worse, only for two months later have to rip it out and replace the whole road. Maybe if they didn't lie to us and waste our money we wouldn't mind as much
  
  Report Abuse
  
  Name: Joe S.
  
  6/18/2012 1:15:07 AM
  
  If you read the article, you will see that the gasoline tax is based on a gallon, not on the price. It's not a tax; it's a user fee. It is a dedicated revenue source to build and keep the roads up. It was initially developed a hundred years ago to fund the road system across the country. If any of you are old enough to remember life without I-24 or I-57, you might understand why this is important. Now, our roads are falling apart and our bridges are crumbling because there isn't enough money to keep them up. The pavememt looks horrible on many roads and you can see that it's not got long left before it starts crumbling, yet there is no money to keep them up or repave them. Hybrid vehicles get better gas mileage so the actual revenue from the gasoline tax is significantly dropping each year, and is woefully not keeping up with inflation. It's like a roof; if you don't fix it the wear and tear is only going to get worse and cost more to fix. You can try to blame politicians or contractors, but the plain truth is that we don't pay for roads like we used to. So if you would rather pay for lots of wheel alignments and damaged axles or fall into a river when a bridge collapses, keep posting those "anti-tax" comments. Just be adult enough to accept that our road system will increasingly fail us, and you and your "anti-tax" friends will be to blame.
  
  Report Abuse
  
  Name: Tim T.
  
  6/17/2012 11:09:08 PM
  
  Seems like I remember previous years when the tax was supposed to go down our wonderful state legislators stopped it because they just couldn't let it go down. Goes to show they care nothing about us the voters. I think everyone needs to be calling their representatives to tell them to stop this raping of their citizens pocket book
  
  Report Abuse
  
  Name: Gerald C.
  
  6/15/2012 3:12:11 PM
  
  This law H.B. 973 was passed in 1980 and signed into law by then Governor John Y. Brown a Democrat.
  
  Report Abuse
  
  Name: The M.
  
  6/15/2012 12:33:36 PM
  
  Don't give them any ideas Trouble. They left the toll roads 10 years after the parkway was paid for. Was suppose to be to "MAINTAIN" the parkways? Yea right. Have to agree, KY has the worst roads anywhere.
  
  Report Abuse
  
  Name: trouble x.
  
  6/15/2012 12:04:43 PM
  
  All of our roads are bad. I wonder if they will put the toll booths back up again to gain even more money......
  
  Report Abuse
  
  Name: charles m.
  
  6/15/2012 10:20:46 AM
  
  FYI: Median annual family incomes (2010 Census): KY, $41,236; IL, $50,761; TN, $38,686; IN, $46,322; OH, $46,093; MO, $46,184. Per Gallon Gas Taxes (through May 2012, and including federal gas tax): KY, 46.2 cents; IL, 62.8 cents; TN, 39.8 cents; IN, 61.4 cents; OH, 46.4 cents; MO, 35.7 cents. So Kentucky has the second lowest median income and the fourth highest gas tax. Looks like Missouri drivers have a pretty good deal. Are Kentucky roads as good as our neighbors'?
  
  Report Abuse
  
  Name: tim p.
  
  6/15/2012 9:17:36 AM
  
  When is it ever going to be enough for gods sake? They say its for our road fund...that's crap and so are a lot of our roads..drive around paducah for your self..the city and state should replace all of our shocks and most of our tires for the abuse our roads do to the cars we drive....or try the I-24. At the state line coming back from Nashville..you need a front end alignment every time tou enter our state...and its been that way for many years..once again I call shenanigans...
  
  Report Abuse
  
  Name: Chuck W.
  
  6/15/2012 8:48:00 AM
  
  Judy, you got it right. Since this tax is based on a percentage of the cost, the taxes automatically go up or down. Hundreds of Billions of $ are not going back into our economy because of the rise in fuel cost. Everything else we need or do depends on energy also. Both Clinton and Bush helped to fight this by allowing us to produce our own energy. Fuel costs were either brought back down, or held down, by both of them. While they were two very different ends of political belief, they both love this country and did things that put America ahead of their own personal agendas. This is one of the reasons I believe that our economy can improve just as fast as it went down the tube. I have lived long enough to see it done by Presidents of both parties. Obama is not following the lessons learned from history from either party, he is too busy transforming America into part of a One World Government. OMG, Obama Must Go !
  
  Report Abuse
  
  Name: Judy T.
  
  6/15/2012 8:11:30 AM
  
  Since this tax is tied to the average cost of wholesale gas does that mean that if the average cost goes down our gas tax will too?
  
  Report Abuse
  
  Name: S. T.
  
  6/15/2012 8:02:08 AM
  
  This is like Christmas for the politicians!! $57 million more dollars to waste at OUR expense!!! Yay!!!
  
  Report Abuse
  
  Name: Darrell D.
  
  6/15/2012 8:01:56 AM
  
  With the increase in gasoline tax the cost of food, clothing, utilities, most everything we need for daily living will increase. Any product,service or commodity delivered by motor vehicle will see a price increase as those who haul and deliver will pass the tax increase on to their customers. This ripple effect will increase the cost of living on all and especially be an additional burden for those on fixed or limited incomes. But, don't be discouraged, the state and federal government are looking out for our best interest. You can bet on it!!
  
  Report Abuse
  
  Name: Animal A.
  
  6/15/2012 7:52:06 AM
  
  FREAKING RIDICULOUS!!!! When Kentuckians are already struggling lets put more taxes on them. We are barely cheaper on gas than IL and after this it won't be worth the trip across the river to fill up so revunes won't be as high as predicted. Raise the damn taxes on luxury items instead of something so essential in day to day living!
  
  Report Abuse

Kentucky

Weather

Traffic Now

Most Commented Stories

Video