the rough winter. all the snow and ice that melts and refreezes, creates cracks and in the roads become potholes and states say they dent have the money to fix them. and they re proposing this raising of the gas tax to generate the revenue. two dozen states have not raised gas taxes in ten years. half a dozen 25 years or more. and combine that will people driving less and more fuel efficient cars and you have a lack of funds that must be addressed. some states want to tie gas taxes to inflation or rising fuel costs so as it goes up so too the taxes. the average state gas tax, 31.4 centss a gallon. the federal tax, 18.4 cents. that federal tax has not been raised in 20 years. aaa says the result is a crumbling road system that absolutely needs fixing. without a doubt our roads nationwide are in bad shape. our general infrastructure, got a great of d from the american society of civil engineers.
some plans have what if you go out of state. you wouldn t be paying the state tax if you go out of state. there have been academic studies showing this could work but practically would it really work? what s the incentive to try it out? you could be paying more. you absolutely could be paying more or a little bit less. the states have to raise the money somehow. it s not voluntarily to you. it s voluntary to the state. eventually they ll say you have to do it. the highway trust fund is completely depleted. they never put money into it. we haven t raised the federal gas tax in 20 years. 16 states who haven t raised their state gas tax in 20 years. so they ve got to come up with the money. when you ask the public would you like to raise your gas taxes? they say no. that s one of the unspoken
east means higher prices at the pump. we ve been tracking this throughout the libya crisis. let s take a look. watch this play out. this is crude. the dark green is crude oil, up above $105 a barrel. this is what you re paying at the pump. on average, $3.51 a gallon. that s for regular unleaded gas. if you pump premium you know it s higher than that. and where you live with also change that. one impact of higher oil prices is declining consumer confidence. this is a 30-point drop in consumer confidence just over the last couple of weeks. that matters when you have a fragile economy trying to have a recovery take steam. consumer confidence down, then consumer spending goes down that could spell longer trouble for the economy. what you pay depends on where you live. if you look across the country here, where you see red, especially out there in california, the darker the color, the higher gas price you re paying. these green states, that s i ll say a lower price. i m not saying it s a lo