I sent them an email to see how they respond to request for getting WVO from them...

Good Morning Austin,
We received your email inquiring purchasing used vegetable oil for highway
use in your diesel Mercedes.
Tallowmasters collects and produces waste cooking oil as a licensed
renderer. All finished oil is sold to certified feed stock dealers or
biodiesel manufacturers.
We certainly understand that everyone wishes to drive their vehicles for
lower cost. However, using illegal fuels, without paying Federal and State
and county taxes is something that cannot be considered "legal".
World oil prices are escalating and all of us are affected. Even
Tallowmasters, LLC pays for its fuels and taxes for the right to
use/maintain our roads and interstate road systems. To NOT pay your share
for your use of this infrastructure is improper, unethical, and illegal.
Biodiesel will play a part in future diesel production and supply.
(Remember that diesel engines were originally developed to run on vegetable
oil, not petroleum) Because you can do something and possibly get away with
it does not mean you should. We hope that you, if you wish to use
alternative fuel for road use, will pay your fair share.
All taxes on fuel used for highway use are collected by the
manufacturer/distributor, not the end user.

Charles Largay
President
Tallowmasters, LLC

__________________
'87 924S
'81 280SEL

Sold ->

81 300SD -
93 300E w/ 3.2
85 300D-
79 300SD
82 300CD
83 300CD - CA
87 190E 5 spd
87 Porsche 924S

"..I'll take a simple "C" to "G" and feel brand new about it..."

well after reading that letter maybe i should do the hail marry 20 times to east or something and then still use WVO.

Until it is considered totally illegal and not just "you found a better fuel that is not taxed, you bad boy" screw them...

just my 2 cents

Tallowmasters is just CYA. They could get in trouble if they promoted home made fuel that avoided state taxes or even bordered on that. Don't forget all the States coffers are empty AFAIK.
Example. Some states have set up roadblocks to check diesel vehicles to see if they are using Ag fuel (dyed red). They target pickup trucks mostly and in rural areas. The fines probably hardly offset the cost of the sting operation.

I was just commenting at a local shop where someone dropped off a free sample of WVO/Bio or whatever. Someone said that they could start supplying it to all the diesel customers that's when I said yes, until the State finds out about it and someone will go to jail. There are stiff penalties for selling fuel for road vehicles (unless you live in the Ukraine or somewhere) without collecting taxes and the paperwork necessary to set up a fuelling station make it impossible to do without environmental impact crap and underground storage tanks and more garbage than I care to imagine.

But I doubt they are going to enforce the small home users who pour Canola in their Mercedes diesel tanks or filter frying oil from a local restaurant. But don't underestimate what authorities have been known to do when it comes to making a point!
There are not many diesels on the road (percentage compared to gassers) but if there were more I can imagine some state Fascists would attempt to do something in the news to scare people away from the concept.

__________________
'95 E320 Wagon my favorite road car. '99 E300D wolf in sheeps body, '87 300D Sportline suspension, '79 300TD w/ 617.952 engine at 367,750 and counting!

How the hell does this guy know whether or not you pay road taxes on your fuel? And why on earth would it be his responsibility to school you on the law?
What an absolute ass.

__________________
1982 Silver 300DT

By "stealing" the WVO you're cutting into his profits and delaying his 8000 sqft home extension.

He might as well start the argument about taxing CO2 that comes from respiration.

__________________
1974 240D 3.0L 4(M) - 250K -OM617.910 + 300D FW + Rajay turbo power!
1977 6.9 3(A) - 84k

So, let me get this straight. I'm paying twice for gas that I was paying 18 months ago, and, therefore, I drive a bit less. The roads here haven't become any better since all these new taxes went into play. And, correct me if I'm wrong, please, but aren't these taxes federal. And aren't our streets magistrated by local and state governments? This guy's a douch-bag!

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1989 300E 144K

They had an excellent point. Everyone of us who is burning WVO (or homemade biodiesel) and not paying road taxes is breaking the law. In a lot of states, it is no different than running dyed diesel. Are you likely to get caught? Probably not. But the law is the law and the fine is pretty stiff if you're caught.

__________________
Keep everything as simple as possible-but no simpler--Albert Einstein

Reid, the Feds operate on conviction rate. If I know that you are breaking Federal laws by pouring WVO in a diesel tank, all I need to do is to drop a dime.

If they smell a guaranteed conviction, they will be out there like flies to $hit.

Don't get confused about the level of the crime. They get the same credit for a federal conviction of using untaxed fuel as they would if they prosecuted a Federal bank robbery.

I know of a fellow who they hung for 6 months in Federal prison for making a small misstatement on a bank application. The bank was pissed because he defaulted on a loan (around 9/11 time period) and they determined that the application was not entirely truthful. Dropped a dime to the Feds.

Bye-bye.

Fuel taxes are not federal. It's a state tax, and sometimes county-based as well. That's one of the major reasons that fuel prices can vary so widely from state to state, and sometimes from county to county.

I don't think the the guy from Tallowmasters was intentionally being a douche-bag. He's just covering his own a$$, and wisely so. For all he knows, Austin's letter could have been part of a sting operation, and if he were caught selling untaxed fuel, he could be arrested, fined, and/or put out of business.

He probably even burns untaxed fuel in his own car. But if he is a smart businessman, he will not sell untaxed fuel to individuals.

And he's right: Somebody's got to pay for the roads we drive on.... Believe me, I'm not a fan of taxes in general, as anyone can see by my posts in the Open Discussion forum......But the fuel tax is one that actually makes sense.

Mike

__________________
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1979 300 SD
350,000 miles
_____
1982 300D-gone---sold to a buddy
_____
1985 300TD
270,000 miles
_____
1994 E320
not my favorite, but the wife wanted it

www.myspace.com/mikemover
www.myspace.com/openskystudio
www.myspace.com/speedxband
www.myspace.com/openskyseparators
www.myspace.com/doubledrivemusic

You are half right. Fuel is taxed by both state and federal governments. The state tax varies from state to state, but the federal tax is flat across all states. Fed tax is 24.4 cents per gallon (diesel) right now according to this source:

http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/ohim/hs01/pdf/fe101a.pdf

__________________
Keep everything as simple as possible-but no simpler--Albert Einstein

I stand corrected. I forgot that there's a federal tax on it as well. The state taxes very pretty wildly, accounting for the price differences..... Our fuel is pretty cheap here in GA, relatively speaking....

Mike

__________________
_____
1979 300 SD
350,000 miles
_____
1982 300D-gone---sold to a buddy
_____
1985 300TD
270,000 miles
_____
1994 E320
not my favorite, but the wife wanted it

www.myspace.com/mikemover
www.myspace.com/openskystudio
www.myspace.com/speedxband
www.myspace.com/openskyseparators
www.myspace.com/doubledrivemusic

if you use 80%WVO and 20%RUG, don't you already pay tax ? It's just that your engine is all of a sudden more efficient on the road. :-)

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1992 300SD, 290K miles.

Only if you burn only your RUG and not the WVO or better yet, if your car contacts the ground 20% of the time it is on the road. You need to be able to prove it tho and Mercedes is not that fast.

__________________
01 Ford Excursion Powerstroke
99 E300 Turbodiesel
91 Vette with 383 motor
05 Polaris Sportsman 800 EFI
06 Polaris Sportsman 500 EFI
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Red
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Yellow
04 Tailgator 21 ft Toy Hauler
11 Harley Davidson 883 SuperLow

AFAIK EV owners pay no road tax through fuel taxation and they even get tax breaks on purchase and registration? Why is WVO any different?

There are specific laws against using fuels not intended for vehicle use. Running your car on ag fuel is purposely skirting taxation. I don't run my car on WVO to skirt taxes, there's just no mechanism to pay taxes on it. How is that my fault? It's the government's job to figure out how to tax me.

Is there a road tax on propane for road use?

Does anyone know what the road tax rate is on biodiesel from Arco or a similar commercial source?

Sixto
95 S420
87 300SDL