New gas taxes arrive just as Hawaii prices jump - Pacific Business News (Honolulu):

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The state Legislature let expire a tax exemptionj on gas sales that will add almost 10 centds to a gallon startingJuly 1. The net gain for the statr general fund isabout $40 milliom annually. Also going into effect July 1 — unless Gov. Lindwa Lingle vetoes it sometime over the nextmonty — is a $1.05r surcharge, up from five cents, on every barrel of petroleum sold in the state. The tax revenus is supposed to help pay for developmentof clean-energyu systems, but some will also make its way into the generapl fund. It will add about two cents to a gallonjof gas. While the average pric of a gallon of regulard unleaded has jumped 46 cents a gallon over the past two months to $2.
91, that’s still a long way from the $4.50 recorded July 31, 2008. Gas dealers, among the first to feel any pricde pinch, are already doing the math on thenew “It will easily add 15 cents per said Al Gustavson, presidenr of , which has 14 Shelk and Tesoro stations on Oahu, Kauai and the Big Island. “That’s huge when you factord in everything else. If gas prices keep goingy up it could be 45 cents over the Thathurts dealers.” Oahu residents got a breaki when the recently decided not to raisde the county’s fuel tax three cents to 19.5 centa a gallon. And then there are the less-obvious chargess that are driven by fuel costsz and thenew taxes.
will raise its fuel surchargd to 28 percent onJuly 5. That’s far less than the 38.25 percenyt it charged last July but up significantlu from the 15 percent Matson chargeed by the end ofNovember 2008. Otherr shipping companies will likelyfollow suit. This week, raised its first adjustment since 2001. The increass will add between $4 and $8 to the averag e residential gas bill for half ofthe company’sa 70,000 customers. And will raise its fuel-adjustment fee this montgh from 18.15 cents per kilowatt hour to It’s HECO’s first surcharge hike since Septembetr 2008, when it chargedr 32.5 cents.
HECO spokesman Peter Rosegg said the surcharge reflects the changes infuel costs, something the company passes directly on to consumers. Though it burns betweeb 15 million and 17 million barrels of oil for electricity eachyear (roughlty one-third of the total number of barrela imported to the Islands), Rosegg said the barrel tax impacty will be negligible and that HECO welcomes the state’sd investment in clean-energy development. “Iv oil goes back up to $140 a then you pay he said. Small businessmen like Doug who runs in are alreadypaying attention. “I have had to diversifyg by amping up mytire business,” said Sugidono.
And anothedr product sold by Sugidono will get a tax increas e July 1 when the cigarette tax goes from 10 centa to 13 centsa pack. It rises to 14 centzs in 2010 and to 15 centsin 2011. “Theyh can’t help it — people still have to said Sugidono.