NTD News Segment: Why Gasoline Prices are Lower in America Than Europe
As much as we all like to bitch about gasoline prices these days, most American drivers are still paying less than half what Europeans pay for gasoline at the pump, even with recent price spikes from Middle East tensions. In my NTD News interview with Host Cary Dunst below, I explained exactly why.
[Pro tip: The conversion factor from liter to gallon is 3.7854. Thus, even the UK’s price shown above of $2.14/liter converts to a whopping $8.10.]
The secret? Lower taxes and far superior national energy security. California is the lone U.S. exception — it’s deliberately chosen the failed German model and become an energy basket case, as I detailed at Forbes yesterday.
Here’s the breakdown:
Taxes are the #1 driver of the gap. Europe slaps $3–$4 per gallon in taxes onto gasoline. Most U.S. states charge around 20 cents. That alone makes U.S. pump prices dramatically lower than in the UK, France, Germany, or most of Asia.
With the building of the interstate highway system, Americans built a car-dependent society in the 1950s and have always pushed back hard against punishing gas taxes. Europeans didn’t — and their politicians love the revenue.
High European taxes hammer living standards. Every consumer good you buy moves on petroleum-powered trucks, trains, ships, or planes. Those inflated fuel costs get passed straight to families, raising prices for food, clothing, and everything else. The result? A measurably lower quality of life.
