Why You Pay More For Gas in Idaho

If you do a lot of traveling, you may have noticed you are paying more at the pump in Idaho than in other states.

Here's why.

Americans spend $198,000,000 on gas tax every day. In Idaho, we pay more than most other states. The national average for tax on gasoline is $0.50 per gallon. Here, we pay $0.514 per gallon. That may not seem like a lot, but it adds up over time.

The difficult thing is, with sales tax, you can see it on your receipt. That isn't the case with gasoline. Petroleum analyst Patrick DeHaan explains:

It kind of highlights that without those gas taxes for example, Idaho's state-wide average today is $2.49 per gallon. If gas tax was not factored into that, the average price would be under $2.00 per gallon.

Unfortunately, gas prices (not including tax) also tend to be slightly above the national average. At least we don't have it as bad as our neighbors in Washington, who are paying around $0.40 more per gallon on average than we are. Oregon is currently paying $0.25 more.

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