Lawmakers Question State Gas Tax; GM To Cap Gas Prices For Some

(CBS) With gasoline prices soaring everyone -- from lawmakers to auto companies --is looking for ways to alleviate the pain at the pump.

As CBS News correspondent Vince Gonzales reports, some states are considering eliminating gasoline taxes that are shockingly high in some areas. While Wyoming has the lowest state tax in the continental United States, at .14 cents-a-gallon, New York drivers pay nearly .50 cents a gallon in taxes. And, that's not counting the across the board .18 cent-a-gallon federal tax, Gonzales says.

"I understand taxation, but I think it should be lower than that amount. That just seems astronomical to me," Suzanne Miller, a California motorist told CBS News.

Some politicians, including South Carolina's Governor, believe the solution is to lower or eliminate the gas taxes that most motorists don't even know they pay.

"We think you'd have a real bottom line benefit to a lot of working families who have been struggling with the price of gas," Governor Mark Sanford said.

Other motorists are taking matters into their own hands with a unique way to run their cars that costs practically nothing, as CBS News correspondent Melinda Murphy reports.

Dave Kandell, for example, runs his car on vegetable grease. As Murphy notes, instead of heading for the gas station, Kandell makes the round of restaurants, picking up used fryer grease he gets for free.

He's not alone. Wally Little owns a service station called Wally's Super Service, and has converted hundreds of vehicles to guzzle grease instead of gas.