The Role of Federal Gasoline Excise Taxes in Public Policy

Details

• Creators:
  Pirog, Robert
• Corporate Creators:
  Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  • Climate change
  • Fuel taxes
  • Public policy
  • Policy making
  • Fuel
  • Gasoline
  • Automobiles
  • Energy
  • Highways
  • Taxation
• Publication/ Report Number:
  R40808
• Resource Type:
  Research Paper
• Geographical Coverage:
  United States
• Corporate Publisher:
  Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service
• Abstract:
  American drivers, compared to those in other industrialized nations in Europe, pay relatively low federal, state, and local gasoline and diesel excise taxes. The Federal taxes are used specifically to fund annual highway construction, maintenance, and mass transit. Over the years, proposals have come forth to raise the federal tax as a way to address long-standing national policy concerns, including U.S. dependence on imported oil and various environmental problems related to large volumes of gasoline consumption. Because the demand for gasoline is quite price insensitive (inelastic), significant revenues could be generated with little change in real consumption, even with a relatively low tax increase. A more substantial tax increase would likely be needed to change consumer preferences and business investment decisions. Any debate on modifying the gasoline excise tax will likely revolve around these tensions.
• Format:
  PDF
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/37871/dot_37871_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 236.22 KB]
• Collection(s):
  Transportation Resilience and Vulnerability Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:1c5fbf5afe745e230a1871b44e875b455cd7b347c3d332f227acc3461f1c136c