Member-only story
How Do Electric Vehicle Fees Compare To The Gas Tax?
In the United States, the transportation infrastructure, which includes roads, bridges, and public transit projects, is partially funded from revenue generated by the taxes paid every time you fill up your gas-powered vehicle. For every gallon of gas, you are paying the Federal government 18.4 cents. Drivers of diesel-powered vehicles pay 24.4 cents. On average in the United States, every driver paid around $100 per vehicle in federal gas taxes in 2019. This equaled more than $40 BILLION in total taxes paid by consumers of all fuel types. However, this does not include the revenue generated from State-imposed gas taxes, which vary state by state. Additionally, some reports have estimated that only about 30% of the costs associated with the road infrastructure in the United States are paid for via funding from the gas tax.
In California, which has the highest state-imposed gas taxes at 61.20 cents per gallon, the average driver pays $330 a year in gas tax. While Alaska, the lowest is only 14.66 cents per gallon or about $80 a year. The United States average state-imposed gas tax is 30.11 cents per gallon or around $164 per year.
But, electric vehicle drivers pay zero.
When non-EV drivers hear this, they often get enraged that they seem to be paying for something that others are not. But, is that actually true?
As of today, an EV driver is not paying any gas tax for the obvious reason, as they don’t need gas to use their cars. This means they are not contributing to the Federal Highway Trust Fund, which is where the 18.4 cents per gallon of gas goes to pay for some of the Federally-funded road construction, maintenance, and other transportation projects.
However, that could change in the future. In October 2018, Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming and the head of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee proposed a new Senate Bill. S.343 the Fairness for Every Driver Act, or FED Act for short, would…
