Let me see if I can explain. Prior to 10/30/07 in the state of Maine you could buy #2 heating oil, Off Road Diesl, and On Road Diesel. #2 and Off road are essentially the same price. Add the $0.49 tax to either one of those and you now have the price of On road diesel.
Starting in November, Off road Diesel has to be low sulfur, in most states this is not a problem. The State of Maine has added to the Federal regulation stating that any dealer delivering Off Road Diesel must have seperate and dedicated trucks for this product. This in my opinion is just another way for the state to fleece the people. Most small dealers will not go out and invest in another fleet of trucks just to handle Off Road Diesel so we are stuck buying Road Diesel. We can file to get the road use tax back at the end of the year, but most are small users like me and will forget about it.
No think of it. If you have several thousand people in the state that use say 100 gallons a year, and the state has already collected the road use tax, that's $49.00 a person x the number of people that don't file to get it back.
It's just another way for the state to make money.