States levy gas taxes in a variety of ways, including per-gallon excise taxes collected at the pump, excise taxes imposed on wholesalers which are passed along to consumers in the form of higher prices, and sales taxes that apply to the purchase of gasoline.
States with the lowest gas taxes:
Alaska (14.66 cents per gallon)
Missouri (17.42)
Mississippi (18.40)
States with the highest gas taxes:
California (61.20 cents per gallon)
Pennsylvania (58.70)
Illinois (54.98)
Gas taxes and other user taxes and fees are the most suitable revenue tools for generating the funds to maintain and repair public roads over time.
But many states and the federal government don’t index those taxes for inflation, so the nominal value of gas tax revenue tends not to keep pace with infrastructure funding needs across the country.
States should index gas taxes for inflation in order to create a stable source of revenue to fund infrastructure maintenance and repair needs for years to come, which helps to avoid leaning on general fund revenues and other less suitable tax sources to maintain roads and bridges.
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