The First Gas-Tax Proposals of 2019
By Samantha Oller on Mar. 04, 2019CHICAGO -- With 2018’s elections behind them, many state governors and legislators are weighing increases to gasoline and diesel taxes to help raise revenue for roads and other transportation infrastructure.
The gas-tax proposals range from an increase that would place one state at the top of the nation to another that would actually result in a net decrease in consumer’s gasoline costs.
Here are four of the most recent plans being discussed this spring ...
Michigan
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is set to propose a 45-cent-per-gallon (CPG) increase to Michigan’s gasoline tax, raising it from its current 26 CPG, to raise money for road repair. Her plan would raise the tax in stages, with three 15-CPG increases stages over six-month intervals, Fox 2 Detroit reported. This would give Michigan a 71-CPG gas tax, the highest in the nation.
Currently, Pennsylvania has the highest gas tax at 58.7 CPG, according to the Tax Foundation.
Ohio
Gov. Mike DeWine is asking the Ohio General Assembly for an 18-CPG increase to the state’s gasoline tax, which would bring the total to 46 CPG, Cleveland.com reported. He is also requesting that the fuel tax be tied to the Consumer Price Index and adjusted each year based on inflation—or deflation. The increased gas tax, which DeWine would like to take effect in July 2019, would adjust each July 1. The current 28-CPG tax has not been raised since 2005. By 2030, it could rise to 54 CPG, according to projections by the Ohio Department of Transportation.
Alabama
Gov. Kay Ivey has proposed raising the state gas tax by 10 CPG over three years to fund road and bridge construction, AL.com reported. The current 18-CPG state gas tax would rise by 6 CPG in 2019, and then by 2 CPG in 2020 and 2021. Ivey’s plan would also index the tax to national highway construction costs, which the governor says would result in a no more than 1-CPG increase every two years. Alabama’s 19-CPG diesel tax would also increase by the same amount. With these changes, the fuel taxes—which have not been changed since 1992—could raise more than $300 million for infrastructure.
Wisconsin
In his 2019 budget, Gov. Tony Evers is calling for an 8-CPG increase to Wisconsin’s gasoline tax, while also eliminating the state’s minimum markup law, the Journal Sentinel reported. The Depression-era minimum markup law requires retailers to price gas on the street at 9.18% above the average wholesale price. By eliminating this law, gasoline prices would drop an estimated 14 CPG, the Evers administration said. When combined with the 8-CPG increase to the gas tax, gasoline prices would fall 6 CPG.