But how much of that is taxes? It doesn't make sense to try to compare gasoline prices unless you factor out the taxes, which are nothing more than government's attempt to achieve some social end. Many places I go I see little decals on gas pumps that tell you how much you are paying in taxes per gallon. Do you left bankers concur that taxation is pretty high on petrol?
When we were in Ireland last summer, I noticed that almost all of the cars were new (perhaps less than five years old), and I seem to recall that someone told me that the Irish Government had in effect bought up all the old cars.
I'm wondering if the very high taxes on petrol funded this effort, which is of course a social desire to have fewer gas guzzlers on the road.
BTW, the little Punto I rented got phenomenal gas mileage. Peggy asked me just the other day why we could not buy one here.
