Who benefits from rising gas prices?

Retailers
These folks probably have it worst. They draw the biggest wrath from drivers, but as prices go up, they get a smaller share of the gasoline profit pie. In some cases, retailers even lose money on gasoline to keep prices low enough to coax you to their pump, hoping you'll come inside for a soda and a bag of chips, where profit margins are higher.

Slim profit margins have prompted most major oil companies to get out of this end of the business. About 7,000, or less than 7 percent, of U.S. gas stations are owned and operated by the five major oil companies, according to estimates from the National Association of Convenience Stores. The gross margin for retailers in 2003 (which includes the gas station’s operating costs) was less than 9 percent of the pump price, the lowest in 20 years.

Retailers also have to cough up the fee -- as much as a nickel a gallon -- that is paid to credit card companies when you charge a fill-up. Those fees have been rising as more and more people use plastic to buy gas.

So figure about 21 cents of each gallon goes to the players who hang around the pump.

Taxes
Last -- but by no means least -– is the sizeable chunk of gasoline spending that goes to your government, the second biggest beneficiary of rising gasoline prices. First, you pay 18.4 cents a gallon in federal excise tax. States charge another 25.6 cents (on average, weighted by volume) for a total of 44 cents a gallon.

A lot depends on where you live. In Alaska, you’ll pay just 8 cents a gallon in taxes, according to the American Petroleum Institute. New Yorkers, on the other hand, fork over 42.6 cents for every gallon. The rest of us pay something in between -- another big reason pump prices vary so much from one part of the country to another.

So how come gasoline prices seem to go up faster than they come down? A number of state and federal agencies have looked into whether retailers “pass through” costs when prices go up faster than they pass along savings when prices go down. There’s no definitive answer. Some analysts suggest that retail price changes lag -- but eventually keep up with -– changes in wholesale prices. One Energy Dept. study found that when spot prices change by 10 cents, about 3 cents will pass through to the pump within 2 weeks and at least 6 cents after 4 weeks. 

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