This graph is in liters (1 US gallon = 3.785 liters) and it shows high gas prices in different countries around the world. The first thing that stands out is how much less the USA pays in gas compared to other countries. At 3.80 a gallon we’re paying more than we usually do but we’re far under what the world pays.

The next biggest thing that stood out is why gas prices are so high everywhere else. I always assumed it was because the US had better trade agreements thus getting a better deal on the fuel. This graph shows the real reason prices are so high every where else, taxes.  Most European countries pay more in tax per liter than we pay per gallon.   The percent of tax they are paying is staggering.

Just by eyeballing the graph it looks like everyone pays between $0.85 to $1.00 for the actual commodity of fuel and the rest is tax.  This is a classic example of highway robbery by the governments of Europe (because where else you gonna go to buy gas?).

This graph gives me hope that the United State’s will have a chance at breaking our dependence on oil through entrepreneurship and ingenuity.   As gas prices rise those supplying oil are tying their own noose.  They will price themselves into obsolescence as new technologies come along.  But the lingering concern of new technologies and Europe’s gas prices has always troubled me since they have been at $7 to $8 a gallon for years and no new technology has emerged from their market.  The European governments have stripped so much money from the inventors and small business men that a solution hasn’t arrived there.  The solution to high gas prices will come from the bottom up not from gigantic energy companies or bloated governments.