Regarding the letter “Oil prices vs. gas prices” (April 14, TribLive): Pennsylvania has the third highest gasoline taxes in the country. When the federal levies are added to those imposed by the state, Pennsylvania consumers are paying 77 cents per gallon in taxes.

I suspect the 77 cents per gallon paid to the tax collectors far exceeds the per-­gallon profit of the company extracting the oil, the per-gallon profit of the company transporting the oil to the refinery, the per-gallon profit of the refinery, the per-­gallon profit of the wholesale distributor bringing the gasoline to the retail outlet, and the per-gallon profit of the retail outlet selling a gallon of gas to the consumer.

How do you define price gouging?

Dan Sotler

Crestview, Fla.