Half of States Have a Gas Tax Policy That's a Decade Old

April 3rd, 2014 | By: Infrastructure Report Card

The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) released a new chart this week clearly showing how long it’s been since many states have changed their gas tax policy. In about half the states, it has been a decade or more since they’ve changed their gas tax policy in spite of the changing costs for materials, machines, or projects overall. While a minor policy like indexing or switching to a “variable-rate” tax may seem small, consider what we all learned from the hit movie Office Space – even a fraction of a penny can add up to a lot over time.  If we’re going to keep up with America’s growth, we need to start counting our pennies a bit differently. Here’s a few of the other key findings from this chart: • Twenty-four states have gone a decade or more without an increase in their gas tax rate. • Sixteen states have gone two decades or more without a gas tax increase. • Seven states have not seen an increase in their gas tax rate since the 1980’s or earlier: Alaska, Virginia, Oklahoma, Iowa, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Tennessee. • Among the thirty-two states levying a “fixed-rate” gas tax, the average length of time since the last gas tax increase is 17.2 years. • Most states levying a more sustainable “variable-rate” gas tax, by contrast, have seen their gas tax rate rise some time in the last twelve months Read the full ITEP report here.    

Tags: infrastructure, policy, state, tax, transportation
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