New Gas Tax Evokes Anger and Support : Transit: Some say they approve of a levy to help cut the deficit. An Oxnard man complains, ‘I’m stuck’ with it.

Drivers across Ventura County on Friday responded to higher gas prices with varying degrees of anger and acceptance.

“I don’t have a choice, do I?” asked Victor Villard as he filled up at a Texaco station in Oxnard. “I’m stuck with this.”

And the fact that the 4.3-cent-per-gallon tax that went into effect across the country was intended to raise money to cut the federal deficit didn’t take any of the sting out of it for Villard.

“I could talk for five hours about Clinton and all his plans,” he said in disgust.

At a Shell Oil station in Camarillo, Donna Taylor was having a much easier time with the higher prices.

“I’d pay 5 cents a gallon to get the deficit reduced,” she said. “I’m all for it. Why not?”

And while customers were coping with the higher prices, station owners were wondering how much to pass on to customers. In addition to the new federal tax, station owners are paying 3 to 5 cents more per gallon for the return of so-called “winter gas,” an oxygenated formula that decreases air pollution but costs more to produce.

The new federal tax and temporary use of “winter gas” could send prices up 9 to 10 cents over the next few weeks, officials said. Diesel fuel prices are slated to climb even more than that, because of new restrictions on sulfur content.

“I have to see what’s happening with the market; I can’t just put numbers up,” said Bill Rayes, owner of Bill’s Unocal in Moorpark.

Rayes opted to boost his gas prices 4 cents a gallon Friday, instead of the full 4.3-cent tax, in a bid to keep prices low enough to encourage sales. He said he raised prices 4 cents a gallon a few weeks ago when he started receiving the more-expensive oxygenated gas, which he said he will sell through February.

Friday, Rayes was selling self-service regular unleaded for $1.27.9 per gallon and super unleaded for $1.47.9 per gallon.

Chuck Helo, owner of Rancho Conejo Mobil in Newbury Park, said he also raised prices just 4 cents Friday in an effort to hold on to customers and avoid running up higher sales taxes on each fill-up.

Helo said that as state, federal and local sales taxes have mounted, he has been forced to take a smaller profit on each gallon to stay competitive with other station owners.

“If you ask people what they’re paying for the gas, they know how much they’re paying,” he said. “But they don’t know what it goes for. I bet 99% of the people don’t know how much taxes they’re paying for the gas. They think we’re making a lot of money. I’m not making a lot of money. You know who is? The government and the oil companies.”

With the new federal tax hike, customers are paying 18.4 cents a gallon in federal taxes and 17 cents in state taxes, station owners said.

Still, some customers said that if the money raised by the new tax goes toward its intended target--deficit reduction--it will be money well spent.

“If they use the money for what they say they’re going to use it for, I think it’s a great idea,” said Ottavio Belvedere, filling up at a Shell Oil station in Camarillo. “I think people will absorb the four cents without realizing it and it’ll do a lot of good.”

Moorpark resident Colette Freiberg wasn’t quite as accepting as she gassed up at the same Camarillo station.

“It affects me a lot,” she said of the price hike. “I think that gas prices are too high already.”

A Mary Kay sales representative, Freiberg said she drives about 2,500 miles a month and can’t cut down without hurting her business.

“There’s nothing I can do about it,” she said. “I’ll have to pay it and I’ll have to live with it.”