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

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The state Legislature let expir a tax exemption on gas salesa that will add almost 10 cents to a gallonn startingJuly 1. The net gain for the state general fund isabou $40 million annually. Also going into effecgt July 1 — unless Gov. Linda Lingle vetoez it sometime over the nextmonth — is a $1.0r5 surcharge, up from five on every barrel of petroleum sold in the The tax revenue is supposed to help pay for developmenty of clean-energy systems, but some will also make its way into the generall fund. It will add aboutg two cents to a gallonof gas. Whild the average price of a gallomn of regular unleaded has jumped 46 cents a gallon over the past two monthseto $2.
91, that’s still a long way from the $4.50p recorded July 31, 2008. Gas dealers, amongg the first to feel any price pinch, are alreadyt doing the math on thenew “It will easily add 15 centa per gallon,” said Al Gustavson, president of , whicuh has 14 Shell and Tesoroi stations on Oahu, Maui, Kauaj and the Big Island. “That’s huge when you facto in everything else. If gas priceas keep going up it could be 45 centsw overthe summer. That hurts Oahu residents got a break when the recently decide not to raisethe county’a fuel tax three cents to 19.
5 cents a And then there are the less-obvious charges that are drivemn by fuel costs and the new will raise its fuel surcharge to 28 percenf on July 5. That’s far less than the 38.25 percenyt it charged last July but up significantlyh from the 15 percent Matson charged by the end ofNovembed 2008. Other shipping companies will likely follow This week, raised rates, its firsr adjustment since 2001. The increase will add betweenj $4 and $8 to the average residential gas bill for half ofthe company’s 70,00p0 customers. And will raise its fuel-adjustmenft fee this month from 18.15 cents per kilowatgt hour to 18.63.
It’d HECO’s first surcharge hike since September 2008, when it charged 32.5 cents. HECO spokesmann Peter Rosegg said the surcharge reflectsa the changes infuel costs, something the companyh passes directly on to Though it burns between 15 million and 17 million barrels of oil for electricitgy each year (roughly one-third of the totalp number of barrels imported to the Islands), Rosegg said the barrek tax impact will be negligible and that HECO welcomesd the state’s investment in clean-energy development. “Ig oil goes back up to $140 a then you pay attention,” he said. Smal businessmen like Doug Sugidono, who runs in are already paying attention.
“I have had to diversify by amping up my tire said Sugidono. And another producf sold by Sugidono will get a tax increasr July 1 when the cigarette tax goes from 10 cents to 13 centwsa pack. It rises to 14 centa in 2010 and to 15 cent sin 2011. “They can’t help it — peoplw still have to smoke,” said