[PRCo] International gasoline prices

[Schneider Fred]

I'm sending this to show you that the drop in the economy is  
worldwide.....
For those of you who care, here is a note from a buddy of mine, who  
works for German Rail, on what has happened to gasoline prices in  
Germany and Austria

Convert €1.15/liter and you'll get $5.87 a gallon, down from $9.04 in  
June.     The drop from $9.04 to $7.80 represents the improvement the  
exchange rate of the U. S. dollar.   The additional drop from $7.80  
to $5.87 represents the true change in the cost of gasoline at the pump.

The drop at the pump is a lot less over there than it is here because  
a much larger share of their motor fuel prices are general sales  
taxes.   The Europeans always considered cars a luxury and put both  
high excise taxes on the vehicles and high taxes on the motor  
fuels.   We figured that highways and cars were good for the economy  
and we should not tax them therefore we seldom did more than tax the  
cars at the general use tax rate.   A select few states added a  
personal property tax to the license fee but that was more the  
exception than the rule.   But understand that if gasoline costs  
$5.87 there and $1.67 here, the difference is an additional $4.20 in  
taxes in German on each gallon or nearly a US dollar on each liter,  
and it does not necessarily go for highways.


>
>
> Begin forwarded message:
>> From: chr.grimm@
>> Date: December 12, 2008 11:02:56 AM EST
>> To: fwschneider at comcast.net
>> Cc:
>> Subject: Aw: Gas prices?
>>
>>  Hi Fred,
>>
>> Now it is all about EUR 1.15 per Liter. It used to be around 1.50  
>> in June. Austria is about EUR 0.15 less per Liter.
>>