![](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/missouri-gas-prices-11.jpg?quality=85&w=2400)
At first look, the collapse in oil prices over the past year, from $107 per barrel in June to below $50 a barrel today, seems like the proverbial free lunch for American consumers. The decline in prices is the equivalent of a $125 billion tax cut. And it’s effectively a progressive one, since the biggest beneficiaries will be working- and middle-class people who spend a disproportionate amount of their income on gas for their cars and heating fuel for their homes. American households with oil heat could save $767 each this winter. That cash can now be spent on a new car—or a washing machine, an electronic gadget, clothes or a few dinners out.
That should boost spending, and …
Read the full story, which appears in the Feb. 2, 2015 issue of TIME, here.
![](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/missouri-gas-prices-11.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![A pump at the Pilot Travel Center on East Austin Road in Nevada, Missouri. January 10, 2015.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/missouri-gas-prices-21.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Murphy USA gas station in Nevada, MO. January 10, 2015. Murphy USA gas station in Nevada, MO. January 10, 2015.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/missouri-gas-prices-31.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Arnone's Car Care Center & Phillips 66 in Kansas City, MO. January 16, 2015. Arnone's Car Care Center & Phillips 66 in Kansas City, MO. January 16, 2015.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/missouri-gas-prices-41.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Pilot Travel Center on East Austin Road in Nevada, Missouri. January 15, 2015. Pilot Travel Center on East Austin Road in Nevada, Missouri. January 15, 2015.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/missouri-gas-prices-51.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
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