Before we get to the trivia, just a serious note on this gas tax hike hitting New Jersey Thursday. Oct. 1 brings another 9.3 cents per gallon to the state and out of your pocket. This means for every gallon sold the state now gets 50.7 cents. Diesel? 57.7 cents per gallon.

It was all decided when automatic increases based on consumption was made part of the deal when the gas tax went up under Gov. Christie. Remember his steaming pile of nonsense sold to us as ‘tax fairness’? Yeah, that.

So when Gov. Phil Murphy had to deal with a pandemic and thousands of New Jerseyans would end up dying he signed many executive orders to shut down the state. Businesses were shuttered. People lost jobs. Folks were told to stay at home. No unnecessary travel.

Obviously these executive orders caused traffic to all but disappear and therefore gasoline consumption to nosedive. But considering it was a drop of consumption brought about by his own executive orders do you think he would sign just one more executive order stating the automatic hike would be suspended under these special circumstances? Of course not. His administration claimed there was nothing they could do because it was the law. Hands were tied. Yeah I’m quite sure it’s the law that I’m allowed to go to work as a gym trainer or retail clothes store manager or barber or massage therapist too yet executive orders took care of that, didn’t they?

It’s a shame this administration allowed this gas tax hike in a year where business and taxpayers have already suffered so much. Shame on them.

Now on a lighter note. With the gas tax hike it got me wondering about the overall national average cost per gallon from year to year so I began Googling. I found this piece from 247wallstreet.com. You can look up the price of gas from the year you were born (or graduated, or whatever year you want) going all the way back to the 1920’s.

It seems shocking. In 1929 the cost per gallon was only $0.21. The year Bruce Springsteen was born it was $0.26. In 1973 it was $0.39. By 1980 it was the first year gas was over a dollar at $1.19.

But here’s the craziest thing. If you adjust for inflation the cost of gas has never been all that low and was always roughly what it is today. Those same years adjusted for inflation? $2.49, $2.12, $1.76 and $3.12 respectively. Our current national average is $2.18.

Now you know.

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Jeff Deminski. Any opinions expressed are Jeff Deminski's own.

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