Maps maps maps
Here's a map that breaks down gas prices by county. I'm a little surprised by how clearly the price changes at state borders. I thought it was illegal to set prices in interstate commerce?
There's a case where some Washington wineries challenged New York and Michigan to allow them to sell directly to consumers, and they won. The commerce clause "prohibits discrimination against out-of-state business". So why isn't whoever the hell is selling gas in Wyoming sending their trucks across the border? Surely they want to sell more product. There has to be some form of price fixing going on.
And you thought the oil industry was low enough.
I'm also linking this pop vs. soda map, because it sort of resembles the gas map.
posted by RWBB @ 5/02/2006 01:48:00 PM
4 comments
4 Comments:
I'll bet. I actually hardly drive my car anymore. I'm not going to sell it, but it's tempting.
I've been a pop-sayer since forever, so I was pleasantly surprised to learn that Washington is pop territory.
A couple yahoo friends of mine, who grew up in pop land with me but moved away and converted, were amused by a store in the Chicago burbs called "The Pop Stop". I thought it was the most normal thing in the world.
what about gas taxes? If the oil companies charging the same price in two adjacent counties, but one state has a 50 cent gas tax and the other state has a 20 cent gas tax, state 2 should be cheaper.
The indiana / IL border up until recently had been like this. On the way home to my parents house, there are 2 gas stations in the middle of nowhere, right over the border in Indiana where gas tax used to be substantially less than IL.
Obviously that's what's happening here, but I thought taxes of that sort were illegal per the commerce clause.
Maybe it's ok because taxing it higher in your own state is not "discrimination against out-of-state business" but subsidizing it would be.
Gas taxes, and also emissions standards.
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