<HTML>In a message dated 2/17/2003 9:04:23 PM Pacific Standard Time, JBrown72073@cs.com writes:<BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px"> Steven quotes: >Meanwhile at the pumps across the US looks like another guaranteed >minimum price hike of 20,30,40,50, or ____ cents. If that dog of an SUV >you drive needs filling it will be about $40.00/tank now, OUCH!, with >substantially higher prices before memorial day! Why are consumer prices on gasoline higher in Europe than the U.S.?  Taxation? Jenny Brown </BLOCKQUOTE> I was going to pop off and say Europeans pay the world market price of oil as gas prices; the US pays the cost in terms of the defense budget. But upon mature consideration, I am trying to find the logic to get there and hoping someone else will beat me to the punch. DoreneC </HTML>