Gas today is as low as $3.61 per gallon in Iowa. and $3.76 in Minnesota. The tax is lower in 39 other states.
Check the Tax Foundation chart below for state-by-state gas tax levels.
“This includes the base excise tax, plus an assortment of other taxes and fees that affect the price of gasoline,” the group says.
All those are in addition to the federal gas tax, which has been 18.4 cents since 1993.
All those are in addition to the federal gas tax, which has been 18.4 cents since 1993.
There's a second point to note with that chart- states such as Illinois, Indiana and Michigan have state sales tax on gasoline, while Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa don't. This means that Illinois and Indiana gas prices were 10-15 cents above Wisconsin's when I went down there a week ago.
ReplyDeleteIt also means that some funds from gas purhcases go into the General Fund in those states, to pay for things like schools, aid to local governments and other non-transportation services. By comparison, Scott Walker is trying to rob the Wisconsin General fund of money and shift it to his buddies at the Road Builders' organization. Quite the difference, eh?
Gas taxes should be high--maybe as much as 20 cents or more. This would, among other things, get more people to use public transit, reduce carbon emissions, and provide revenue sources to develop new energy technologies. Unfortunately, neither the state or federal governments are run by people willing to take the responsibility to make this eminently logical case to the nation.
ReplyDeleteBut high gas taxes allow democrats the opportunity to raid these funds so that they can claim that they are not raising taxes.
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