The Florida Legislature timed a suspension in the 25-cents state gas tax this year to coincide with the run-up to the general election on Nov. 8. The suspension of the tax was in effect through October. It ends at midnight tonight.
The average gas price in Florida was $3.286 a gallon for regular unleaded today (Oct. 31), about 10 cents cheaper than at the end of September. The suspension of the tax kicked in only a few days before gas prices started rising again, after OPEC-Plus, the oil cartel led by Saudi Arabia and Russia, agreed to slash production to increase prices again. But the increase wasn’t especially pronounced, though it erased what relief may have been gained from the gas tax cut.
Average prices in Flagler County today were in the $3.25 to $3.30 range. By Tuesday morning, they will have increased 8 percent, to 3.50 to $3.55 a gallon, absent other market effects. In essence, what Florida lawmakers like to call a gas-tax “holiday” is ending just ahead of the holiday season.
“While Halloween is traditionally a time for filling bags with candy, drivers may also want to fill their gas tank to take advantage of current prices at the pump,” said AAA spokesman Mark Jenkins.
Gas prices for the month of October averaged $3.33 per gallon. That’s about 6 cents less than what the price was on September 30th.
In Flagler-Palm Coast on Monday, gas along Guzzlers’ Alley on State Road 100 was selling at $3.25 or within a few cents of that at most stations, including WaWa and RaceTrac, and more consistently around $3.29 a gallon along Palm Coast Parkway. Prices stay in that range down I-95 around the intersection with U.S. 1, but to those willing to make the trip to LPGA Boulevard in Holly Hill, they could get a taste of below-$3-a-gallon gas: both Buc-ees and Sam’s Club are selling unleaded regular for $2.98 a gallon today, according to Gas Buddy’s latest reports. And BJ’s, the wholesale club in Port Orange, is selling at $3.02. (A BJ’s is soon to begin construction on State Road 100 in Palm Coast.)
Florida gas prices declined 7 cents last week, pushed down likely by yet another draw from the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve ordered by President Joe Biden: both political parties are manipulating prices to the extent that they can ahead of the election.
The reserve, held in salt caverns in Texas and Louisiana, was created by Congress in 1975 after the 1973 Arab oil embargo. The Ford Administration’s goal was to store 500 million barrels of oil. Jimmy Carter soon after his election in 1976 promised to double the storage by 1985. By 1979, it still contained only 91 million barrels because of construction and bureaucratic delays, but by the mid-1980s the goal of half a billion barrels was met and exceeded, nearing 750,000 barrels by 2010, its maximum storage capacity. It has fallen since, but remained above 600 million barrels–until Biden started drawing it down. . after the 1979 oil shock, when oil prices surged. By 1985 has contained normally contained over 600 million barrels of oil. It is now just above the 400 million barrel mark, its lowest level since 1984, when it was being built up. It’s still about a year and a half worth of supplies in net imports of crude oil. But it remains up to the president to manage its releases.
Crude oil prices spiked modestly after OPEC’s announced production cut. But the cartel is notoriously undisciplined. That, combined with releases from the strategic reserve, has kept prices from spiking further. Oil was trading in the $86-a-barrel range on Monday, $10 a barrel higher than at the end of September.
Regional Prices
- Most expensive metro markets – West Palm Beach-Boca Raton ($3.47), Gainesville ($3.40), Naples ($3.38)
- Least expensive metro markets – Pensacola ($3.14), Crestview-Fort Walton Beach ($3.14), Panama City ($3.21)
| AA GAS PRICE AVERAGES (Price per gallon of regular unleaded gasoline) |
 |
Sunday | Saturday | Week Ago | Month Ago | One Year Ago |
| National | $3.761 | $3.761 | $3.795 | $3.797 | $3.401 |
| Florida | $3.293 | $3.299 | $3.358 | $3.294 | $3.311 |
| Georgia | $3.159 | $3.165 | $3.209 | $3.180 | $3.249 |
| Click here to view current gasoline price averages | |||||
David Schaefer says
DeathSantis doesnt fool me with his election ploy. I’m not going to vote for that fool anyway. Use the wholesale clubs the membership is cheap and the gas is too…..
The Geode says
What does “The GOP-dominated Florida Legislature” do with anything when “gas prices” affect EVERYBODY and EVERY STATE the same? Anything to take the blame away from the real culprits, huh?
Ray W. says
And the real culprits are? Putin and OPEC+? After all, crude oil is an international commodity. If a refinery in Italy will pay more for American crude oil than will an American refinery, guess where the American crude oil goes! Adam Smith was right. The invisible hand of the international marketplaces controls the price we pay at the pump for gasoline or diesel fuel, though political practices can impact prices, as we see today with the artificially reduced prices.
The Geode presents his argument as a national issue. It is not and hasn’t been one for a long, long time. FlaglerLive readers should consider this fact whenever The Geode posts another argument based on crude oil being a national commodity.
Laurel says
Geode: The article just stated the suspension of the tax relief ended days before the election. Though the gas problem (not for the record profit making oil companies) is global, people here will notice a $0.25 a gallon increase just before going to the voting both.
See the manipulation?
Wallingford says
Don’t confuse the Florida Legislature with President Biden. the are manipulating the Price by removing the State Excise Tax. When there is a shortfall in State Revenue in order to fund the Budget, they will increase taxes in some other way in order to pay for it and blame it on the Federal Government.
President Biden is utilizing the Reserve to offset the Production reduction spearheaded by Saudi Arabia so that the Citizens of the United States will have petroleum for cars and heat during the Winter..
Save America says
Biden the Fool has depleted our country’s Petroleum Reserve so much that if War brakes out next week against China or North Korea, America will have to wait for their Armies to come over here because we can’t even fill up our cars much less our Fighter Jets or Tanks……… Biden the Fool has DESTROYED America. It will take years to replenish our Petroleum Reserve. I hope gas prices go up to $10.00 a gallon by New Years.
Desiel fuel reserve here in America has ONLY 25 days left. Truckers will be shutting down their Food deliveries to the grocery stores by Thanksgiving……….. NO TURKEY for you !!!!!! Eat canned SPAM !!!!
Ray W. says
I see we have a new candidate for the most gullible FlaglerLive commenter. I suppose we will see even more gullible commenters before the current election season comes to an end.
If all U.S. refinery owners were to stop diesel fuel production today, and if all diesel fuel importers were to stop accepting deliveries of diesel fuel from foreign refineries today, then, and only then, would Save America’s comment have any accuracy.
A simple check on the history of diesel fuel reserve levels over the last 3o years shows that U.S. diesel fuel reserve levels have never topped 60 days during that span of time. Reserve levels did approach 60 days during the pandemic, but that is understandable. During most of the Trump years, diesel fuel reserve levels floated mostly between 30 and 35 days, with a low occurring in 2019 of 26.5 days of reserves.
I offer to FlaglerLive readers the observation that not only is Save America wrong in his comments about the current state of our national diesel fuel reserves, he is wronger than wrong, in that a purposefully inaccurate comment does not even meet the validity test. An invalid point does not even get one into the argument, much less ever win one.
Regarding America’s military fuel reserves, Save America’s comments presume that our military’s fuel reserves are included in the national figure; they are not. If anyone thinks that our military would allow its fuel reserves to comingle with domestic fuel reserves, they are greatly mistaken. One of the most important factors in military planning is having fuel available to our military forces all over the world, a lesson learned long ago. The British devoted significant resources to keeping the Suez Canal out of German hands during World War II. Prior to World War I, Germany built a rail line from Berlin to Basra, in Iraq, to have access to the Indian Ocean for necessary supplies. The British successfully fought a protracted series of battles with the German and Ottoman armies to control the rail line between Baghdad and Basra, so as to deprive German industry of vital supplies, including Iranian oil. One of the crucial defects of the Japanese battle plans for the attack on Pearl Harbor was that their pilots did not take out the crude oil bunkers next to the naval base. On this point, Save America presents himself or herself as clueless.
All in all, Save America presents as the classic example of why partisan commenters cannot be trusted. There can be a tremendous difference between a zealous advocate and a partisan presenter. The former, by necessity, must engage in the practice of intellectual rigor in order to best present his or her client’s best interests. A partisan commenter has zero obligation to engage in any form of intellectual rigor. As my mother would say, Save America is simply talking to hear his or her head roar.
As for a destroyed America, that prediction grew old decades ago. Yes, the Chicago Tribune wrote an editorial prior to the passage of the Social Security Act that the bill was a communist plot to destroy America. Very little has changed in the last 85 years. We will always have among us a slew of commenters who believe that America is being destroyed. Oh, well!
Get Real says
This is the most uninformed, make it up as you go comment.
Nephew of Uncle Sam says
SA, Facts? Any proof to what you are saying? Please forward it to FlaglerLive so we may be better informed.
Laurel says
Save: You hope gas prices go up to $10.00 a gallon by New Year’s? How patriotic, and compassionate, of you. That’s your idea of saving America? You would not be happy if Biden released the oil, and you would not be happy if he did not. You have made that clear.
RAW says
You can also eat O’Biden Stew. Just saying
jeffery c. seib says
I hope everyone will read the comments by Ray W. above. He is telling it like it is. DeSantis and Fox news and their lackies are blaming gas price and food price increases on President Biden. The truth is that oil is pumped by the oil companies like
Shell and “ExxonMobil and sold to the highest bidder on the open commodities market along with Saudi and Russian oil. American grains, corn, rice, wheat, are all sold on another commodities market along with Ukrainian, Canadian and all other countries. This is what people call ‘free-market capitalism’. We don’t live in places like China, Russia, or North Korea with government run everything…yet.
Laurel says
Jeffery: Yes. Big oil is making record breaking profits on us. Big corporations are crying that they must increase prices because of the price of fuel, yet Publix charges higher prices in wealthier neighborhoods because they can. It’s all bull, and the world is being manipulated by the Arabs and Russia and the big corporations are cashing in on it. Who backs big oil and big corporations, giving them subsidies and tax breaks?
exasperated says
Shell (SHEL.L) reported a quarterly profit of $9.45 billion and raised its dividend by 15%
Saudi Aramco Q3 net income jumps 39% on higher crude prices
BP joins rivals with bumper $8.2 bl profit
Chevron reported its second-highest profit of $11.2 billion
Bob says
An election ploy was the use of our strategic petroleum reserve. Diesel fuel at one time was cheaper or as cheap as regular gas. Trucks run on diesel fuel. Think what would happen if we can’t produce enough of it or the price keeps going up. Of course, this administration had nothing to do with it. They always blame the other guy.
Jonathan says
Corporate Greed and price gouging is exactly what is going on. President Biden has nothing to do with it.
Mags says
Don’t look now, but the drain on the petroleum reserve is courtesy of the chief Democrat in the White House. NO GOP had a hand in that.
Not to mention it’s not exclusive to Florida. What’re you smoking over there?
Steve says
If you all aren’t whining about something or complaining about being the Victim you’re just not happy are ya. No solutions or Agenda just bitch
Pogo says
@Steve — it’s what trumpholes do
It would be funny if it weren’t so gravely unfunny. I wonder how many of these humps will ever realize they vote for shits who pander to them in public — while receiving the depletion allowance on their own 1040(s); the trumpholes elect pricks who ratfuck them every chance they get.
Look it up
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ratfucking
Goddamn it — VOTE!
https://ronbegone.com/
James says
https://lasvegassun.com/news/2022/nov/02/dont-get-confused-over-which-president-to-punish/
Pogo says
@James
Amen — and furthermore:
https://desantiswatch.org/influence-watch/?akid=12050.47960.E1y_4z&rd=1&t=8
Thank you James.