NJ gas is $4.54 — I read your 928 comments and here’s the truth

When I was a kid and something went wrong, somebody had to pay.

Broken lamp. Missing cookies. Muddy floor. It didn't matter what happened — the first order of business was never fixing the problem. It was finding the guilty party. Siblings pointed at each other. The tattletale made it worse. Nobody was satisfied until someone was holding the bag.

We haven't changed much.

My gas prices piece from earlier this week generated 928 comments. Nine hundred and twenty-eight. I read through a lot of them. And what I found was exactly what you'd expect — two teams, both pointing fingers, both partly right, neither one telling the whole story.

"Funny how there was complete silence when gas prices skyrocketed for four straight years under the last moron admin," wrote one commenter. "Now all of a sudden it's an issue."

"Thanks for getting inflation down on Day 1 Trump," wrote another, with a emoji that didn't need words.

"Are we great again yet?" Several people asked that one.

"Biden still holds the record," someone else fired back.

And then there was Bob Cornelius, who cut through all of it with four words: "Make remote work great again."

He might be the smartest person in the comment section. But before we get there, let me try to actually answer the question. No team. No jersey. Just the facts.

SEE ALSO: I wrote the NJ cost-of-living piece and forgot the most painful line item 

The biggest reason: a war and a strait you may have stopped thinking about

On February 28th the United States and Israel went to war with Iran. Within days Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz — the narrow waterway through which roughly 20 percent of the world's entire oil supply passes every single day. The International Energy Agency called it the largest supply disruption in the history of the global oil market.

A ceasefire was announced April 8th. Prices briefly dipped. Then they kept climbing. As of this week, just one ship crossed the Strait of Hormuz in a single day. One. Normally hundreds transit that waterway daily. The strait is technically open. It is functionally closed. And until oil flows normalize, prices stay elevated regardless of what any politician in Washington or Trenton says or does.

That is not a Republican problem. That is not a Democrat problem. That is a war problem. The chart above tells the story better than I can.

The NJ gas tax — and a number that might surprise you

"The tax in the gallon in NJ is close to 55 cents," wrote Tony Billotti. He's close. As of January 1, 2026, New Jersey's total gas tax is 49.1 cents per gallon — up 4.2 cents from last year under a 2024 law that keeps raising it every year through 2029. Democrats passed it. Republicans didn't stop it. Your frustration is valid.

But here is the number that stops the argument cold. Pennsylvania's gas tax is 58 cents per gallon — the highest gas excise tax in the nation. Which is exactly why gas across the bridge costs more than it does here, not less. The best prices in the region are in Delaware, which has a significantly lower tax structure.

New Jersey's gas tax is real, it keeps going up, and it never helps. But it is not what is making your gas $4.544 today. The Strait of Hormuz is doing most of that work.

The summer blend nobody votes on

Every May 1st, refineries switch to a more expensive summer-blend formula. It costs 10 to 15 cents more per gallon to produce and that cost lands directly on you. It happened last week. You're paying for it right now and will be until September. Nobody voted for it. Nobody can repeal it. It just is what it is every single summer on top of everything else.

The oil companies

"Price gouging," wrote Maria Anne. Arlene Hope cited Exxon and Chevron earnings beating estimates. These are fair points. Oil companies are profitable. They always find a way to be profitable.

But here's the complicated part — analysts note that given the scale of the Hormuz disruption, prices are actually lower than they should be. Strategic reserves and increased US domestic production have been acting as a shock absorber. The bad news is those buffers are running out fast. US crude inventories dropped 6.2 million barrels in a single week recently. When the cushion is gone, the full weight of the disruption hits the market with nothing underneath it.

The current price may not be the ceiling.

The most accurate comment in 928

Thomas Dowling wrote seven words that I have been thinking about ever since: "Republican wars and Democrat taxes. Who would have thought?"

That is the honest answer. A war started under a Republican administration disrupted the global oil market. A gas tax passed under a Democratic legislature keeps going up by law. The summer blend is a federal mandate that transcends both parties. And the oil companies will make money regardless of who is in charge.

I drive 57 miles to work and 57 miles home. That is not a choice (well I guess I could choose to live closer to work). A lot of New Jersey commuters are in the same position — doing the math at the pump, watching the number spin, paying $4.544 today for what cost $2.997 a year ago.

Bob Cornelius had the right idea. Make remote work great again. At least then we'd only have to fill up once a week.