[MNJohnnie]

add the state and federal taxes of approximately $.36

Absolutely false. Depending on where you live the State tax is anywhere from $.46 to $.73 a gallon then the Feds add an additional $.18 Fed gas tax on top of that then there is the indirect taxes, such as property taxes, corporate income taxes etc, the Oil Companies pay that get added on to of that. What the Govt gets is anywhere from 20-35% of the cost of each and every gallon of gas.

[Constitutions Grandchild]

That may well be. I truly have a minuscule amount of information on the taxation. I did work in-house legal department at a spot-trading company for 20 years. It makes my point even more so. How the heck they make any money at all is beyond me (which is probably why I'm not in-house anymore). After the 1970s it became harder and harder to make a buck in the business. I took what I heard was the average.

So, tell me, since you seem to have more information than I, when the oil companies sell it to the filling stations, do the filling stations pay the $.18 fed gas tax and the average $.60 state tax? Even when we owned our own retail stores (back in the day) they were money losers. I realize it's volume of sales that makes it possible at all, but how can any of them make a profit (and invest in R&D)?

[WOBBLY BOB]