No Runny Eggs

Yesterday, the state Assembly was good enough to vote to stop the automatic increase in the gas tax (expect Craps to veto it at 4:53 pm 12/23 because it would cut into his personal slush fund and the Senate to uphold the veto Craps said he would sign it, but as of the AM 12/21, he hasn’t). Today, they passed a bill, AB15 (amended) mandating a 10%-ethanol blend in regular gas (they were “kind” enough to take out the mid-grade) starting in October 2006 (the vast majority of the gas sold in Wisconsin) 54-38 (H/T for the vote total – Kevin). Jim “Craps” Doyle (WEAC/ADM-Potawatomi) will sign it if it passes the Senate, so give your State Senators hell again. Their staffers should know who you are by now.

Now, for the meaning behind the title (warning, fancy math ahead). That tainted E10 gasoline gets about 5% worse mileage than straight E0 gasoline (specifically in my side-by-side case, 6.25%). That means you’re burning about 5.3% more gasoline, and paying taxes on that additional 5.3%. IF Craps does sign the end to the automatic gas-tax increase, that would cap the gas tax at roughly 30.5 cents per gallon after its final automatic increase (estimated at about 1 cent/gallon) in 2006.

Let’s assume you drive 12,000 miles a year with your average car that burns regular gas and get 20 miles per gallon on straight E0 gas (to use round numbers). You’d be burning 600 gallons and kicking in $183 in gas taxes. A penny increase in the gas tax, slightly more than what it has averaged (again, I’ll run with it to use round numbers) would mean a $6 increase in your contribution, bumping it up to $189.

Now, drive that same 12,000 miles on E10 gas. You’d only get 19 miles per gallon, and burn about 632 gallons of ethanol-laced gas. At that 30.5 cents/gallon gas tax, you’d kick in $192.76. That’s $9.76 more than you would otherwise, and $3.76 more than if the Assembly had done nothing, allowed the gas tax to go up automatically, and didn’t require you to burn ethanol-laced gas.

Even taken out to the second year, the cumulative effect is a net tax increase. With a gas-tax freeze and an E10 requirement, you’d still pay $192.76 that year in gas taxes and $385.52 over the two years; with an automatically-increasing gas tax and no E10 requirement, in that second year, you’d pay $195 that year and $384 over the two years, and with a gas-tax freeze and no E10 requirement, you’d still pay $183 that second year and $366 over the two years. Let me restate; the sum total is a tax increase.

It just gets worse if Craps does what I expect and decides he likes his slush fund too much. You’d kick in $199 in gas taxes in the first year, $205 in the second, and $404 over the two years. If you think that extra $38 will go toward roads, I have a bridge or two to sell you.

Once again, the call to phones is in effect. Ask your state senators to kill AB15.

Revisions/extensions – I forgot about the $0.03 (soon to be $0.02) per gallon “tank inspection” fee. With E10, that takes another $0.64 out of your pocket per year. Also did some minor corrections.

Revisions/extensions part 3 – since this has been submitted into this week’s Carnival of the Badger, I redacted my prediction of a Craps veto. Of course, I trust his word about half as far as I can throw him, so that prediction is not yet entirely invalid.