macro 27 and other fuel stuff

http://www.api.org/statistics/fueltaxes/upload/Diesel-Tax-Map.pdf

What I found the most interesting is that even some of the higher tax states can still have a cheaper price in certain places than other lower tax states.

Gary IN is a good example... it's usually cheaper than even in Ohio... which has a state tax of 21c/gal less.

I've stopped using Macro 27 completely... I do a LOT better planning my own stops.

 

Another great example of this is FL and GA (or any state bordering GA)... buy your fuel in FL coming out with a load of welfare juice. The pump price is usually higher in FL, but the IFTA tax is lower in GA so you're paying more for GA fuel - base rate, and getting less IFTA credit.

They put a page in the drivers handbook with the state tax rates...

The IFTA tax matrix is here...

http://www.iftach.org/taxmatrix3/choose_tableq2.php

Its a little funky, but with some editing is usable. The "Canadian" numbers refer to the rate for fuel sold in liters (I think) rather than gallons. You want to use the "Special Diesel" column... biodiesel is usually taxed at the same rate.

I just put the IFTA table into a spreadsheet, then copy the fuel page data and paste it in HTML format. Add another column to it that is base rate fuel price. Calculate it by subtracting IFTA tax from the pump price shown on the fuel page. Sounds like a lot of trouble, but after you get used to the drill it only takes a couple of minutes.

Sort by the location column, cut out the stuff you won't go near (if you want to go to that much trouble - I delete the cells rather than just erasing the data), then sort again by ascending base price.

I use the OpenOffice.org office package. If you'd like a copy of my fuel spreadsheet, I'd be happy to mail it to you. PM me if you're interested.