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

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The state Legislature let expire a tax exemption on gas salesx that will add almost 10 cents to a gallonb startingJuly 1. The net gain for the statee general fund isabout $40 million annually. Also goin g into effect July 1 — unless Gov. Linda Lingle vetoesw it sometime over the next month isa $1.05 up from five cents, on every barrelk of petroleum sold in the state. The tax revenue is supposexd to help pay for developmentof clean-energty systems, but some will also make its way into the generall fund. It will add about two cents to a gallonof gas.
While the average price of a gallon of regulart unleaded has jumped 46 cents a gallohn over the past two monthsto that’s still a long way from the $4.50 recordeds July 31, 2008. Gas dealers, amonfg the first to feel any pricwe pinch, are already doing the math on thenew “It will easily add 15 cents per said Al Gustavson, president of , whichn has 14 Shell and Tesoroo stations on Oahu, Maui, Kauai and the Big Island. “That’s huge when you factort in everything else. If gas prices keep going up it couldx be 45 cents overthe summer. That hurtsa dealers.
” Oahu residents got a break when the recently decided not to raisethe county’s fuel tax three cents to 19.5 cents a And then there are the less-obvious charges that are drivenb by fuel costs and the new taxes. will raise its fuel surcharg e to 28 percent onJuly 5. That’e far less than the 38.25 percent it charged last July but up significantly from the 15 percent Matson chargee by the end ofNovembee 2008. Other shipping companies will likelyfollow suit. This week, raised rates, its first adjustment since 2001. The increass will add between $4 and $8 to the averagew residential gas bill for half ofthe company’d 70,000 customers.
And will raise its fuel-adjustment fee this mont from 18.15 cents per kilowatt hour to 18.63. It’s HECO’xs first surcharge hike since September 2008, when it chargef 32.5 cents. HECO spokesman Peter Rosegg said the surchargd reflects the changes in fuel something the company passes directlyy onto consumers. Though it burns between 15 million and 17 million barreles of oil for electricit y eachyear (roughly one-third of the total number of barrel imported to the Islands), Rosegg said the barre l tax impact will be negligible and that HECO welcomew the state’s investment in clean-energy development.
“If oil goes back up to $140 a then you pay attention,” he Small businessmen like Doug Sugidono, who runs in Lahaina, are alreaduy paying attention. “I have had to diversify by amping up mytire business,” said Sugidono. And anothe product sold by Sugidono will get a tax increase July 1 when the cigaretter tax goes from 10 cents to 13 centza pack. It rises to 14 cents in 2010 and to 15 centxsin 2011. “They can’t help it people still have to smoke,” said Sugidono.