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-one 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 22 years. And twenty states have gone a decade or more without a gas tax increase.
Sales, Gas and Excise Taxes
Sales, excise, and gas taxes are an important source of revenue for states. The sales tax, in fact accounts for half of all state tax revenue. Forty-five states levy broad-based sales taxes, every state levies at least some type of tax on consumption, and all states have a tax on gasoline. But these taxes aren’t without problems.
Sales taxes are inherently regressive—requiring lower- and middle-income taxpayers to spend a larger share of their household budgets in tax than their wealthier neighbors. The gas tax provides funding for infrastructure, but many states have not modernized their gas tax, meaning it no longer raises adequate revenue. ITEP resources on sales, excise and gas taxes provide general and state-specific information about the mechanics of these taxes and options for reform.
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report February 16, 2015 Most Americans Live in States with Variable-Rate Gas Taxes
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report February 10, 2015 How Long Has it Been Since Your State Raised Its Gas Tax?
An updated version of this report has been published with data through July 1, 2017. Read the report in PDF form. Many states’ transportation budgets are in disarray, in part… -
report February 5, 2015 Grocery Tax Exemption Is No Improvement for Idaho
Read as a PDF. A proposal to eliminate Idaho’s Grocery Credit Refund and create a sales tax exemption for all grocery purchases would reduce state revenues by roughly $34 million… -
report August 5, 2014 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 2013. 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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brief July 30, 2014 Options for Progressive Sales Tax Relief
See the 2016 Updated Brief Here Read the Policy Brief in PDF Form Sales taxes are one of the most important revenue sources for state and local governments—and are also… -
report May 28, 2014 Pay-Per-Mile Tax is Only a Partial Fix
The gasoline tax is the single largest source of funding for transportation infrastructure in the United States, but the tax is on an unsustainable course. Sluggish gas tax revenue growth has put strain on transportation budgets at the federal and state levels, and has led to countless debates around the country about how best to pay for America’s infrastructure.
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brief May 20, 2014 State Gasoline Taxes: Built to Fail, But Fixable
An updated version of this brief was published on February 9, 2017. Read this report in pdf. Every state levies taxes on gasoline and diesel fuel, usually just called… -
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 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 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.
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report January 30, 2013 Who Pays? (Fourth Edition)
Major tax overhauls are on the agenda in a record number of states, and “Who Pays?” documents in state-by-state detail the precise distribution of state income taxes, sales and excise… -
report January 23, 2013 More Inaccuracies, Bigger Omissions: Arthur Laffer’s Newest Study of Income Tax Repeal Falls Short
Arthur Laffer’s consulting firm–Arduin, Laffer & Moore Econometrics (ALME)–has released a report purporting to show that North Carolina could usher in an economic boom if it repeals its personal and corporate income taxes and replaces them primarily with a much larger sales tax. Prepared for the Civitas Institute, “More Jobs, Bigger Paychecks” relies on an economic analysis that is fundamentally flawed to the point of making it entirely useless.
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report January 11, 2013 Proposal to Eliminate Income Taxes Amounts to a Tax Increase on Bottom 80 Percent of Louisianans
Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal has said that he supports the elimination of the state’s personal and corporate income taxes. In fiscal year 2012, Louisiana collected nearly $3 billion in revenues from its personal and corporate income taxes.
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report July 15, 2012 Four Tax Ideas for Jobs-Focused Governors
As the nation’s governors gather in Williamsburg, Virginia this week, their focus is on their Chairman’s initiative, Growing State Economies. Too often, however, a governor’s knee-jerk response to a lagging economy is to start cutting taxes, even though state tax cuts offer a demonstrably low economic bang-for-the-buck, for a number of reasons.
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brief July 1, 2012 Sales Tax Holidays: A Boondoggle
Sales taxes are among the most important–and most unfair–taxes levied by state governments. Sales taxes accounted for a third of state taxes in 2011, but sales taxes are regressive, falling far more heavily on low- and middle- income taxpayers than on the wealthy. In recent years, lawmakers thinking they might lessen the impact of these taxes have enacted “sales tax holidays” that provide temporary sales tax breaks for purchases of clothing, computers, and other items. This policy brief looks at sales tax holidays as a tax reduction device.
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report January 11, 2012 Kansas Governor Tax Proposal: Wealthy Kansans Pay Less, Poor and Middle-Income Kansans Pay More
Kansas Governor Sam Brownback unveiled his long anticipated tax plan last week. Sweeping changes to reduce the state’s reliance on its progressive personal income tax are at the core of… -
report December 14, 2011 Building a Better Gas Tax
State gas taxes are currently levied in every state, and are the most important source of transportation revenue under the control of state lawmakers. In recent years, however, state gas… -
report October 4, 2011 Costs of Personal Income Tax Repeal in Kansas
Given the challenging fiscal climate facing Kansas, the proposed income tax plan should be thought of not simply as a tax cut but as a tax swap. News reports confirm… -
brief October 1, 2011 Cigarette Taxes: Issues and Options
Efforts to increase sales and income taxes usually face some opposition. Yet in many states, lawmakers have been able to agree on one approach to revenue-raising: the cigarette tax. In the past several years nearly every state has enacted a cigarette tax increase to help fund health care, discourage smoking, or to help balance state budgets. This policy brief looks at the advantages and disadvantages of cigarette taxes, and cigarette tax hikes, as a state and local revenue source.
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brief October 1, 2011 Uncertain Benefits, Hidden Costs: The Perils of State-Sponsored Gambling
The recent fiscal downturn forced cash-strapped, tax-averse state lawmakers to seek unconventional revenue-raising alternatives, for additional revenue-raising opportunities outside of the income, sales and property taxes that form the backbone of most state tax systems. One of the most popular alternatives to those major revenue sources is state sponsored gambling. As this policy brief points out, however, gambling revenues are rarely as lucrative, or as long-lasting, as supporters claim.
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report July 14, 2011 Sales Tax Holidays: A Boondoggle
Sales taxes are among the most important–and most unfair–taxes levied by state governments. Sales taxes accounted for a third of state taxes in 2011, but sales taxes are regressive, falling far more heavily on low- and middle- income taxpayers than on the wealthy. In recent years, lawmakers thinking they might lessen the impact of these taxes have enacted “sales tax holidays” that provide temporary sales tax breaks for purchases of clothing, computers, and other items. This policy brief looks at sales tax holidays as a tax reduction device.
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brief July 1, 2011 How Can States Collect Taxes Owed on Internet Sales?
Retail trade has been transformed by the emergence of the Internet. As the popularity of “e-commerce” (that is, transactions conducted over the Internet) has grown, policymakers have engaged in a heated debate over how state sales taxes should be applied to these transactions. This debate is of critical importance for state lawmakers because sales taxes comprise close to a third of all state tax revenues.
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brief July 1, 2011 Options for Progressive Sales Tax Relief
Sales taxes are one of the most important revenue sources for state and local governments–and are also one of the most unfair taxes. In recent years, policymakers nationwide have struggled to find ways of making sales taxes more equitable while preserving this important source of funding for public services. This policy brief discusses the advantages and disadvantages of two approaches to progressive sales tax relief: broad-based exemptions and targeted sales tax credits.
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brief July 1, 2011 Should Sales Taxes Apply to Services?
General sales taxes are an important revenue source for state governments, accounting for close to half of state tax collections nationwide. But most state sales taxes have a damaging structural flaw: the tax typically applies to most sales of goods, such as books and computers, but exempts most services such as haircuts and car repairs. This omission is not the result of conscious policy choices, but a historical accident: when most state sales taxes were enacted in the 1930s, services were a relatively small part of consumer spending.
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brief July 1, 2011 How Sales and Excise Taxes Work
Sales and excise taxes, or consumption taxes, are an important revenue source, comprising close to half of all state tax revenues. These taxes are levied in each of the fifty states and are often considered “hidden” to consumers since they’re spread out over many purchases rather than paid in one lump sum. This policy brief takes a closer look at how these taxes are calculated.
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report June 23, 2011 Expert to North Carolina: Don’t Cap the Gas Tax
With the state’s gas tax pegged to the price of gasoline, North Carolina is scheduled to raise its gas tax rate on July 1. This increase was entirely predictable, but… -
report April 14, 2011 States Should Not Allow Amazon.com to Bully Them into Forgoing Sales Tax Reform
In just the last few weeks, Arkansas and Illinois joined New York, North Carolina, and Rhode Island in enacting legislation requiring some online retailers, like Amazon.com, to collect sales taxes… -
report April 13, 2011 ITEP’s Testimony on Sales Tax Modernization Proposal
My testimony focuses on Governor Chafee’s Sales Tax Modernization Proposal, which would generally broaden Rhode Island’s sales tax base, lower the general state sales tax rate, and raise additional revenue… -
report August 13, 2010 ITEP’s Testimony on TRAC Sales and Use Tax Proposal
My testimony today offers several broad thoughts on the implications of the proposals for sales and use tax reform laid out so far by the Tax Realignment Commission (TRAC). The… -
report March 2, 2010 Leadership Tax Plan Hits Poor Hardest
Media outlets are reporting that leaders in the New Mexico legislature reached a tentative agreement in the days leading up to this week’s special legislative session that would impose over… -
report February 26, 2010 Evaluating Special Session Revenue-Raising Options
In a special legislative session starting March 1, the New Mexico Legislature will consider a variety of revenue-raising options to close the state’s budget deficit. Some of the options under… -
report February 9, 2010 Determining the Statewide Sales Tax Rate Under SJR 29 and HJR 56
Senate Joint Resolution 29 and House Joint Resolution 56 are currently being debated in the Missouri Legislature. The proposals would place a constitutional amendment on the ballot to dramatically change… -
report January 28, 2010 Testimony on SJR 29: Income Tax Repeal
In evaluating SJR 29, policymakers should have a clear understanding of how broad the tax base could actually be under such a plan, what the tax rate would actually have… -
report May 1, 2009 Analysis of HJR 36 “Fair” Tax Plan
Earlier this week, the Missouri Senate Ways and Means Committee held a hearing on House Joint Resolution 36, which would eliminate the state’s individual and corporate income taxes while increasing… -
report November 7, 2007 ITEP Testimony on Governor’s Plan: Expanding the Sales Tax
My testimony today focuses on the sales tax legislation included in the Tax Reform Act of 2007. In particular, my testimony will discuss the impact of the bill’s expansion of… -
brief May 1, 2004 Value Added Taxes: An Option for States?
In recent months, lawmakers in a number of states have suggested that a particular type of sales tax, called the value-added tax or VAT, might be a cure-all for state budgetary problems. Although Michigan is the only state that currently relies on a VAT as a major revenue source, several other states have recently considered implementing this type of tax. This policy brief evaluates the case for (and against) implementing a VAT at the state level.