Fueling the fire

But do not start blame the big oil companies for the price jump. Blame your government.

While crude oil costs make up 76 percent of the cost of gasoline, the second largest chunk of the gas price -- 12 percent — is collected by federal, state and local governments.

According to Drew Johnson, a senior fellow at the Taxpayers Protection Association, 18.4 cents goes back to the federal government and 49 cents goes to New York state for each gallon of gas a motorist purchases.

Just how much did the oil companies make, per gallon? According to Johnson only 7 cents.

"So the next time you begin to blame the oil companies, speculators or service stations for high gas prices," Johnson wrote this month in The Wall Street Journal, "remember that no one gets richer off of gasoline than government."