The federal gas tax is a critical source of funding for the nation’s transportation system, but its design is fundamentally flawed. In recent years, the consequences of those flaws have become increasingly obvious, as the federal government has struggled to fund a 21st century transportation network with a gas tax that has predictably failed to keep pace with the nation’s growing infrastructure needs. This ITEP Policy Brief explains how the federal gas tax works, its importance as a transportation revenue source, the problems confronting the gas tax, and the reforms that are needed to overcome these problems.
Publications
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brief May 20, 2014 The Federal Gas Tax: Long Overdue for Reform
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report May 15, 2014 Improving Tax Fairness with a State Earned Income Tax Credit
The simplest, most effective, and most targeted way to begin to counteract regressive state tax codes is a refundable state Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). Twenty-five states and the District of Columbia already have some version of a state EITC. Each one is modeled on the federal credit, making it easy for taxpayers to claim and simple for state tax officials to administer. This report explains how all states – even those who already have some form of the credit – can use the state EITC as a tool for improving the fairness of their state tax code.
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report May 8, 2014 Gas Tax Hits Rock Bottom in Ten States
In most states, the gasoline tax is set at a fixed number of cents per gallon of gas. South Carolina drivers, for example, have been paying 16 cents per gallon in state tax for more than a quarter century.1 But while this type of fixed-rate gas tax may appear to be flat over time, its lack of change in the face of inflation means that its “real” value, or purchasing power, is steadily declining. In ten states, this decline has brought the state’s inflation-adjusted gas tax rate to its lowest level in the state’s history.
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report April 1, 2014 Most Americans Live in States with Variable-Rate Gas Taxes
The federal government and many states are seeing shortfalls in their transportation budgets in part because the gasoline taxes they use to generate those funds are poorly designed. Thirty-two states and the federal government levy “fixed-rate” gas taxes where the tax rate does not change even as the cost of infrastructure materials inevitably increases over time. The federal government’s 18.4 cent gas tax, for example, has not increased in over twenty years. And almost half the states (24) have gone a decade or more without a gas tax increase.
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report March 24, 2014 Tennessee Hall Tax Repeal Would Overwhelmingly Benefit the Wealthy, Raise Tennesseans’ Federal Tax Bills by $60 Million
A new analysis performed using the ITEP Microsimulation Tax Model shows that the vast majority of Tennesseans would see very little benefit from Hall Tax repeal. Nearly two-thirds (63 percent) of the tax cuts would flow to the wealthiest 5 percent of Tennessee taxpayers, while another quarter (23 percent) would actually end up in the federal government’s coffers. Moreover, if localities respond to Hall Tax repeal by raising property taxes, some Tennesseans could actually face higher tax bills under this proposal.
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report March 19, 2014 90 Reasons We Need State Corporate Tax Reform
As states struggle with tough budget decisions about funding essential public services, profitable Fortunate 500 companies are paying little or nothing in state income taxes thanks to copious loopholes, lavish giveaways and crafty accounting, a new study by Citizens for Tax Justice and the Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy reveals.
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report February 25, 2014 The Sorry State of Corporate Taxes
Many of America’s Most Profitable Corporations Pay Little or No Federal Income Taxes; Multinationals Pay Higher Rates Abroad Than in the U.S.
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report November 12, 2013 Personal Income Tax Reform: Improving the Fairness of Taxes in the District of Columbia
DC’s tax system is markedly regressive. This is driven largely by the regressive impact of the city’s sales, excise, and property taxes. The personal income tax is the only effective tool that DC has available for offsetting this regressivity. In the comments below I discuss four options for fine-tuning DC’s income tax to lessen its impact on moderate- and middle-income taxpayers. I also describe four options for funding those tax cuts with policies that would increase upper-income taxpayers’ effective tax rates to be more in line with those paid by their less affluent neighbors.
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report October 10, 2013 Paying for Education Finance Reform in Colorado
As this report shows, this change would somewhat reduce the steep regressivity of Colorado’s overall tax system. In other words, taxpayers across all income levels would pay a more equal share of their income if Amendment 66 is approved, in large part because most of the revenue raised by the amendment would come from the wealthiest 20 percent of Colorado residents.
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report September 23, 2013 A Federal Gas Tax for the Future
Gas tax revenues are on an unsustainable course. Over the last five years, Congress has transferred more than $53 billion from the general fund to the transportation fund in order to compensate for lagging gas tax revenues. By 2015, the transportation fund will be insolvent unless an additional $15 billion transfer is made. Larger transfers will be needed in subsequent years.
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report September 19, 2013 Low Tax for Who?
Annual state and local finance data from the Census Bureau are often used to rank states as “low” or “high” tax states based on taxes collected as a share of state personal income. But focusing on a state’s overall tax revenues overlooks the fact that taxpayers experience tax systems very differently. In particular, the poorest 20 percent of taxpayers pay a greater share of their income in state and local taxes than any other income group in all but 10 states (including DC). And, in every state, low- income taxpayers pay more as a share of income than the wealthiest top 1 percent of taxpayers. Arizona, Florida, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and Washington are six states touted as “low tax” that have especially high taxes on poor residents. To learn more about how low tax states overall can be high tax states for families living in poverty, read the state briefs below.
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report September 19, 2013 State Tax Codes As Poverty Fighting Tools
New Census Bureau data released this month show that the share of Americans living in poverty remains high, despite other signs of economic recovery. The national 2012 poverty rate of 15 percent is essentially unchanged since 2010 , but still 2.5 percentage points higher than pre-recession levels. This means that in 2012, 46.5 million, or about 1 in 6 Americans, lived in poverty.1 The poverty rate in most states also held steady with five states experiencing an increase in either the number or share of residents living in poverty while only two states saw a decline.2
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report September 19, 2013 Washington is a “Low Tax State” Overall, But Not for Families Living in Poverty
Read the Report in PDF Form See all “Low Tax for Who?” states New data from the Census Bureau appear to lend support to Washington’s reputation as a “low tax… -
report September 19, 2013 Texas is a “Low Tax State” Overall, But Not for Families Living in Poverty
Read the Report in PDF Form See all “Low Tax for Who?” states New data from the Census Bureau appear to lend support to Texas’ reputation as a “low tax… -
report September 19, 2013 Tennessee is a “Low Tax State” Overall, But Not for Families Living in Poverty
Read the Report in PDF Form See all “Low Tax for Who?” states New data from the Census Bureau appear to lend support to Tennessee’s reputation as a “low tax… -
report September 19, 2013 South Dakota is a “Low Tax State” Overall, But Not for Families Living in Poverty
Read the Report in PDF Form See all “Low Tax for Who?” states New data from the Census Bureau lend support to South Dakota’s reputation as a “low tax state,”… -
report September 19, 2013 Florida is a “Low Tax State” Overall, But Not for Families Living in Poverty
New data from the Census Bureau appear to lend support to Florida’s reputation as a “low tax state,” ranking it 45th nationally in taxes collected as a share of personal income.1 But focusing on the state’s overall tax revenues has led many observers to overlook the fact that different taxpayers experience Florida’s tax system very differently. In particular, the poorest 20 percent of Florida residents pay significantly more of their income (13.2 percent) in state and local taxes than any other group in the state. For low-income families, Florida is far from being a low tax state.2 In fact, only two states tax their poorest residents more heavily than Florida.
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report September 19, 2013 Arizona is a “Low Tax State” Overall, But Not for Families Living in Poverty
New data from the Census Bureau appear to lend support to Arizona’s reputation as a “low tax state,” ranking it 35th nationally in taxes collected as a share of personal income.1 But focusing on the state’s overall tax revenues has led many observers to overlook the fact that different taxpayers experience Arizona’s tax system very differently. In particular, the poorest 20 percent of Arizona residents pay significantly more of their income (12.9 percent) in state and local taxes than any other group in the state.2 For low-income families, Arizona is far from being a low tax state. In fact, only four states tax their poorest residents more heavily than Arizona.
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brief August 19, 2013 A Closer Look at TABOR (Taxpayer Bill of Rights)
Colorado has become infamous for its Taxpayer Bill of Rights, or TABOR, a constitutional amendment restricting growth in revenue collections to an arbitrary “population-plus-inflation” formula. Although TABOR has had significant negative effects on Colorado’s finances, similar proposals have surfaced in at least 30 states over the past decade. None of these proposals were approved, and in five states they were placed directly on a state-wide ballot where they were rejected by voters. Even in Colorado itself, citizens voted to suspend TABOR for five years in an effort to allow the s
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report August 14, 2013 Tax Expenditure Reports: A Vital Tool with Room for Improvement
State and local tax codes include a huge array of special tax breaks designed to accomplish almost every goal imaginable: from encouraging homeownership and scientific research, to building radioactive fallout shelters and caring for “exceptional” trees. Despite being embedded in the tax code, these programs are typically enacted with tax policy issues like fairness, efficiency, and sustainability only as secondary considerations. Accordingly, these programs have long been called “tax expenditures.” They are essentially government spending programs that happen to be housed in the tax code for ease of administration, political expedience, or both.
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report August 14, 2013 Tax Incentives: Costly for States, Drag on the Nation
Tax incentives are intended to spur economic growth that would not have otherwise occurred. More specifically, these narrowly targeted tax breaks are usually offered in an attempt to convince businesses to relocate, hire, and/or invest within a state’s borders.
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report July 24, 2013 Sales Tax Holidays: An Ineffective Alternative to Real Sales Tax Reform
Sales taxes are an important revenue source, comprising close to half of all state revenues in 2012. But sales taxes are also inherently regressive because the lower a family’s income, the more of its income the family must spend on things subject to the tax.
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report July 10, 2013 Undocumented Immigrants’ State and Local Tax Contributions (2013)
In the public debates over federal immigration reform, much has been made of the argument that undocumented immigrants would be a drain on federal, state and local government resources if granted legal status under reform. But it is also true that the 11.2 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States are already taxpayers, and that their local, state and federal tax contributions would increase under reform.
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report June 12, 2013 Testimony: Evaluating the Motor Vehicle Fuel Tax Reforms in DC’s Bill 20-199
Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify today. My name is Matt Gardner. I am the Executive Director of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), a Washington-DC-based nonprofit research group. ITEP’s research focuses on federal and state tax policy with an emphasis on sustainability and fairness in the tax laws.
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report May 20, 2013 Don’t Blame the Gas Tax for High Gas Prices
American consumers are keenly aware of the price of gasoline, but uninformed about what drives that price. When asked about the federal gas tax, for example, six in ten Americans said the tax rate goes up every year. In reality, the federal gas tax hasn’t budged from its 18.4 cent rate in almost twenty years, and roughly half the states haven’t seen their gas tax rates change in a decade or more.