Hi, I'm Denise, and this is your civic minute.
When gas prices go up, we want someone to blame.
The president, the oil companies,
but the price of a gallon of gas isn't one thing.
It's four.
About half the price is crude oil.
Set on a global market that no president, company,
or country fully controls.
Another 17% is the cost of refining that oil into gasoline.
17 more is distribution and marketing,
getting it from the refinery to the pump.
And the gas station slim margin and the rest is taxes.
In Wisconsin, you pay about 51 cents a gallon
in state and federal taxes.
That money builds and maintains roads.
Neither has been raised in years.
The state's been frozen since 2006,
the federal since 1993.
Next time gas prices move, ask yourself,
which one of those four pieces actually changed?
The answer is almost always the first one, crude oil.
And that's set on the other side of the world.
Set your civic minute.
Find more at civicmedia.us.
