![]() The infrastructure law passed last year temporarily refilled the fund, but a gas tax holiday would just drain it again. ![]() But in recent decades, state and federal lawmakers have too often refused to make the politically difficult but necessary decision to raise fuel taxes.Ĭongress hasn’t raised the gas tax since 1993, and so the Highway Trust Fund, which relies on the tax revenue to pay for roads and transit, has been running on empty and needing bailouts from Congress. Fuel taxes have long been seen as user fees that help pay for the construction and maintenance of the transportation system. Maintaining cheap gas undermines efforts to get people into cleaner, more fuel-efficient vehicles and to cut emissions from transportation. The transportation sector is the biggest U.S. The tax increase had little impact on what consumers were paying.Īnd while drivers might see a small savings on gas purchases, the government will certainly lose essential revenue to modernize roads, bridges and transit systems, and slow the transition to cleaner vehicles. For example, in July 2020, California’s state gas tax increased 3.2 cents but the price per gallon went up $1.05 over the next year. Global markets and crude oil supply drive prices at the pump, so what Russian President Vladimir Putin does in Ukraine might have more impact on what drivers pay than what President Biden or Newsom do with gas taxes. ![]() But there’s no guarantee drivers will see a significant decrease in gas prices if taxes are reduced. ![]()
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