Fuel taxes in the United States

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For the first quarter of 2008, the average state gasoline tax is 28.6 cents per gallon, plus 18.4 cents per gallon federal tax making the total 47 cents per gallon. For diesel, the average state tax is 29.2 cents per gallon plus an additional 24.4 cents per gallon federal tax making the total 53.6 cents per gallon.^[1]

1 State taxes
2 Federal taxes
3 Aviation fuel taxes
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

[edit] State taxes

The first U.S. state tax on fuel was introduced in February 1919 in Oregon.^[2] It was a 1 cent per U.S. gallon (0.3¢/L) tax. In the following decade, all of the U.S. states (48 at the time), along with the District of Columbia, introduced a gasoline tax. By 1939, an average tax of 3.8¢/gal (1¢/L) of fuel was levied by the individual states. The fuel tax in Texas is currently set at 20¢/gal since being raised to that amount in 1991. In May of 2007, the Texas House of Representatives unanimously voted to pass a 'gas-tax relief' measure for the 2007 summer driving period. The measure was not passed by the state Senate.

Taxes on Gasoline for Transportation by U.S. State in U.S. cents per gallon (25 July 2007)^[3]
State	State gas excise tax	Other state taxes (general sales tax, average county/local sales tax, environmental fees, wholesale taxes)	State tax total	State + federal tax total
California	18.0	26.4 (7.25% + 1.2)	44.4	62.8
Connecticut	25.0	18.9 (7%)	43.9	62.3
New York	8.0	32.9	40.9	59.3
Washington	36.0	0	36.0	54.4
Rhode Island	27.0	4.0	31.0	49.4
Maine	27.6	1.5	29.1	47.5
U.S. Average (by volume)	18.2	10.4	28.6	47
Massachusetts	21.0	2.5	23.5	41.9
Vermont	19.0	1.0	20.0	38.4
New Hampshire	18.0	1.6	19.6	38.0
New Jersey	10.5	4.0	14.5	32.9
Alaska	8.0	0	8.0	26.4

[edit] Federal taxes

While state fuel taxes had been around for more than a decade, the first federal gasoline tax in the United States was created on June 6, 1932 with the enactment of the Revenue Act of 1932 with a tax of 1 cent/gal (0.3¢/L). The U.S. federal gasoline tax as of 2005 was 18.4¢/gal (4.86¢/L), and the gasoline taxes in the various states range from 10 cents to 33 cents, with an average about 22 cents per U.S. gallon (5.8¢/L), making the average combined tax on gasoline 42¢/gal. Unlike most goods in the U.S., the price displayed includes all taxes, rather than being calculated at the point of purchase.

The head of the U.S. Dept. of Transportation stated on 15 August 2007 that about 60% of federal gas taxes are used for highway and bridge construction. The remaining 40% goes to other, unrelated uses.^[4] However, revenues from other taxes is also used in federal transportation programs.

Presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and John McCain have expressed support for a gas tax holiday; Barack Obama opposes such a measure.

[edit] Aviation fuel taxes

Aviation gasoline (most often used to fuel small General Aviation aircraft) is taxed at 19.4 cents per gallon as of 2007.[1] Legislation is currently pending to raise this tax to 24.2 cents per gallon.[2]

Jet fuel (called "kerosene for aviation" by the IRS) is taxed at 21.9 cents per gallon for the 2007 tax year unless it is used for commercial aviation (i.e. airlines such as American Airlines and US Airways, and small commercial jets commonly chartered by entertainers, politicians, and business VIP’s). Such commercial operations qualify them for a special tax loophole that allows them to pay only 4.4 cents per gallon.[3] A bill has been introduced by Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) and Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) that would completely eliminate the tax paid by commercial jets, while more than doubling the tax on non commercial jet fuel users to 49 cents per gallon.[4]

These taxes mainly fund airport and Air Traffic Control operations by the FAA, of which commercial aviation is the biggest user. (In 2007-08, Rockefeller received $14,000 from lobbyists supported by the airline industry - who presumably favor a tax reduction - and $5,000 from from lobbyists that oppose increases in fuel taxes. In 2006-07, Lott received $13,000 from lobbyists supported by the airline industry and $5,000 from lobbyists that oppose increases in fuel taxes.[5])