Your average regular everyday person probably doesn’t know this, but a certain portion of diesel fuel is dyed either blue, red or green. This dye isn’t added to celebrate holidays like they do to the rivers in some cities for St. Patty’s Day) but is added so that people cannot get around paying taxes.
Let’s say you are replacing the plumbing around your home and need to use a tractor of some sort. Chances are that the fuel in that tractor is dyed. This is because tractors and bulldozers are considered “off road use” and the fuel they burn is exempt from road taxes. These road taxes are what they collect from regular fuel which people use to fill up their everyday vehicles.
“Because some folks were using the cheaper off-road diesel for their everyday commuter vehicles, regulators were forced to step in and add the colored dye.” says Donna, owner of a company where you can have off road diesel delivered to your business in Lynchburg, Virginia. She went on to say “The price differential is between 8-15%. You can see how tempting it would be to save 15% on your everyday vehicle fuel. But this is illegal.”
How Can They Tell?
Regulators don’t check road pick-ups or cars very often to see what kind of diesel they are running. But they are permitted to do so. Mostly, these inspections are carried out at long haul truck stations. You will see them dip a stick into a semi truck’s fuel tank and inspect the color of the fuel.
Essentially, dyed diesel fuel is there to prevent people from getting around paying taxes. The dye is harmless to an engine and only provides a basic tint to the diesel fuel liquid. The practice began way back in 1994.