Filed under → The War Tax
Gas is up $1.43 a gallon since the Iran war started. Nothing about your drive changed. Here's what it costs you anyway.
Same car, same drive. Where you live changes the bill.
This isn't political. Your car, your commute and your job didn't change, but the price of a gallon did.
It never shows up as its own bill. It shows up as less money at the end of the month, which is why it's so easy to miss.
You can't open the Strait of Hormuz. You can know your number, and that's where a plan starts.
Put the number above in your budget as its own line. A cost you can see is a cost you can plan for.
Driving 5 miles each way to save 10 cents a gallon on a 12-gallon fill saves $1.20 and burns about $1.75 in gas. Do the math first.
Fast starts, hard braking and speeding can cut highway mileage by 15% to 30%, per the Department of Energy. A lighter foot is a cheaper tank.
The prices are AAA's average for a gallon of regular in each state. "Before the war" is February 26, 2026, the last reading before the strikes on Iran began February 28. "Today" is October 1, 2026. National average: $2.983 then, $4.414 now.
The math is your miles divided by your mpg, which gives gallons a week, times 52 weeks, times the price. The war tax is the difference between the two prices on the same gallons.
These are state averages. Your station may be higher or lower. Nothing you type leaves your browser.