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Author’s note June 2022: As American families buckle under high gas prices and the Biden administration considers a gas tax holiday that would almost entirely benefit Big Oil corporations, it’s worth recalling the points made below: 1) gas taxes are largely invisible to consumers, and 2) if governments really wanted to help people needing to move around their cities and towns, they’d invest generously in reducing reliance on gasoline. A...

If you live in Portland, you have your May ballot in hand. Don’t just pick a presidential candidate and mail it in. Keep going: past all those unopposed judicial positions, yes, all the way at the bottom of the second page you’ll find “Measure 26-173: Temporary Motor Vehicle Fuel Tax for Street Repair, Traffic Safety.” You might not know it from this well-below-the-fold placement, but it’s important for sustainability, livability,...

Since there’s so much concern in Olympia about Washington’s oil industry, it’s worth examining the state’s tax burden. I checked in with the Gaia-worshipping hippies at the American Petroleum Institute. And wouldn’t you know it? Contrary to the stuff you hear from industry lobbyists, API’s own analysis shows that Washington is unexceptional. To the right, you can see what West Coast gasoline taxes look like. Washington’s taxes are quite a bit lower than California’s....

In an earlier version of this post, the comments thread degenerated into an overheated argument between me and Charles Komanoff, who’s a noted expert in carbon taxes. Mea culpa. I’ve rewritten the post slightly to improve the clarity and, I hope, forestall the antagonism, if not the disagreement… This is surprising: to date, state gas taxes appear to have had very little effect on either driving habits or fuel consumption. Or,...

I thought this was interesting.  The Texas highway department—Texas, no less!—says that roads simply don’t pay for themselves. … no road pays for itself in gas taxes and fees. For example, in Houston, the 15 miles of SH 99 from I-10 to US 290 will cost $1 billion to build and maintain over its lifetime, while only generating $162 million in gas taxes. That gives a tax gap ratio of...

Americans strongly reject new gas taxes. According to a new NY Times/CBS poll, 85 percent oppose higher federal gas taxes. Not too surprising—except that the very same poll also found something quite different… Americans strongly reject support new gas taxes—so long as the tax revenue is earmarked for specific investments. The most popular investment? Fighting global warming. 59 percent would support a gas tax if the result was less climate...

Think the gas tax in Washington State is too high?  According to this report (careful, it’s a .pdf) from the Seattle-based Economic Opportunity Institute, total gas tax receipts, as a share of total personal income in the state, are about as low as they’ve been for more than a generation.  Take a look at this chart, from the EOI report: Now, the fact that gas tax receipts are low in...

Stateline.org has a good update on Oregon’sproject to test a smarter, by-the-mile alternative to the gas tax.  The Oregon project begins field testing in 20 vehicles in September and plans to expand to 280 cars next year. (Tip of the hat to BlueOregon.) UPDATE: Willamette Weekbeats on the per-mile pilot.

In all the heated debate about Washington’s new gas tax increase of 9.5 cents per gallon, one thing has been generally overlooked: the effect of another sales tax on lower-income residents. Today, however, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer ran an interesting article on the subject. But I’m still left wondering whether the tax increase is a good idea. According to the Economic Opportunity Institute, Washington has the most regressive tax structure of...

Eric Pryne had more on electronic mileage charges for vehicles, as a substitute for gas taxes, in yesterday’s Seattle Times. The fundamental forces behind this trend-advances in engine and information technology-will ultimately transform how Cascadians pay to drive, as we’ve been pointing out since 1996. The ultimate potential of this shift is a set of related breakthroughs: pay-as-you-drive insurance, congestion pricing, pay-as-you-drive vehicle registration and taxes, and pollution taxes. Together,...