Think Americans pay a lot for gasoline?

With gas prices soaring, you might be tempted to think Americans are paying the highest prices on earth. You'd be wrong.

In fact, Americans pay among the lowest retail gas prices per gallon of any country, excluding oil producing countries like Kuwait and Venezuela.

Why? In part because of gas taxes, which are significantly lower in the U.S. than in Europe or Asia, for example.

According to the Canadian Broadcasting Company, gas prices are almost always lower in the U.S. than in Canada, where taxes represent about 38 percent of the cost, and less than half the cost of a liter of gas in Europe, where taxes can represent up to 75 percent of the cost of petrol.

Venezuelans pay among the lowest gas prices, since a government-owned company pumps the oil and distributes to Venezuelans at low prices as a government benefit.

And gassing up in Kuwait or Cairo would have cost you $68 cents a gallon or less as of May 4.

Here are the numbers:

Average Retail Gas Price Per Gallon (in US$)

Canada - $2.62 (1)

U.S. average - $2.11 (2)

Germany average $5.28 (2)

U.K. average $5.40 (2)

Italy average $5.06 (2)

Belgium average $4.87 (2)

France average $4.92 (2)

Netherlands average $5.83 (2)

Japan average $3.64 (3)

Kuwait City, Kuwait $0.68 (4)

Cairo, Egypt $0.55 (4)

Caracas, Venezuela $0.14 (4)

(1) May 4, 2004
(2) May 10, 2004
(3) December 2003, regular unleaded
(4) February 2004
(5) May 10, 2004

Sources: U.S. Department of Energy, Canadian Broadcasting Company

And how much do gax taxes play a role in how much you pay at the pump? Once again, Americans fare better than those in Canada and Europe.

Price Of Gas - Breakdown

Source: Gaspricewatch.com

Country	Tax % of Price
United Kingdom	76%
France	74%
Germany	73%
Italy	69%
Spain	63%
Japan	57%
Canada	45%
United States	29%

More information:

U.S. Department of Energy