A few hours ago, I arrived at the gas station that I regularly use to fill up my vehicle in the state of Texas in the United States, and just as I was inserting my card in the gas pump to make the corresponding payment, a serendipity warmly tucked me in through the music. I was instantly blinded to the sound of the cars and the murmur of the many people passing by. I began to quietly intone "Another summer day has come and gone in Paris and Rome but I want to go home. Maybe surrounded by a million people, I still feel lonely, I want to go home. Oh, I miss you, you know". And I couldn't help but feel melancholy. It's valid I suppose from time to time to be melancholy about things; A rapture to the deep heart reminds us how strong and weak we are as human beings at times.
As I refueled I watched time go by as if in slow motion, people moved slowly and were not as expressive as in other times. The conversations, even when I could not understand them at a distance, were in low tones, almost to the limit of whispering, I could say. However, I kept in my mind that wonderful song written by Buble/Chang/Foster, "I've been saving all the letters I wrote to you, I'm fine baby, how are you, well I'd send them but I know it's not enough, my words are cold and flat, and you deserve more than that." "I feel like I'm living someone else's life, it's like I just left when everything was going well, and I know why you couldn't come with me because this wasn't your dream, but you always believed in me", in that instant I was right to realize what was going on.
I was paying at that very moment for gasoline at a price of $4.79 US dollars per gallon (4.54 liters), and there was the reason for the deafening silence at the gas station. A little less than a year ago, the price per gallon at the same gas station was $2.86 dollars. In a little less than 365 days there has been a 60% increase, something scandalous and worrying.
However, I fail to understand even at this moment how on the same day this was happening (data as of June 20, 2022), the price of a gallon of gasoline in Bolivia was $2.059 Dlls (57.01% cheaper), in Colombia $2.309 Dlls (51.79% cheaper), in Ecuador $2.551 Dlls (46.74% cheaper), in Argentina $3.944 Dlls (17. 66% cheaper), in Mexico $4.399 Dlls (08.16% cheaper), and on the other hand in Guatemala the cost reached $5.36 Dlls (11.89% more expensive), the second place was occupied by Peru with a price of $6.31 Dlls (31.73% more expensive) and the highest price in the region was in Belize at that time, with a price of $6.67 Dollars (39.24% more expensive) per gallon.
And I could not get more melancholic, and think that even though President Castillo temporarily eliminated in a presidential decree (April 2022) one of the taxes on gasoline, it is still observable that in Peru when buying a gallon of gasoline you pay three taxes, 1.- The Selective Consumption Tax (ISC) - which is a fixed amount, depends on the type of fuel and is per gallon 10% in the case of gasoline and 20% in the case of diesel, 2.- The 8% road tax, and 3.- The General Sales Tax (IGV), which is 18%.
In conclusion, 10% Selective Consumption Tax (ISC), plus 8% road tax, plus 18% General Sales Tax.
I finished making the payment, and sitting back in the car I could only intone "I have been saving all the letters I wrote to you, I am fine my Peru, how are you? Well, I would send them but I know it is not enough, my words are cold and flat, and you deserve more than that".
Understood the one who understood...
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