WASHINGTON -- Gas taxes are on the rise in 2017.
The average of taxes and fees levied on gasoline by states and the District of Columbia was 27.9 cents per gallon (CPG) as of July 1, 2017, a 4.5% increase from the year prior, according to an analysis by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).
Alaska’s combined gas taxes and fees were the lowest at 8.95 CPG, while Pennsylvania had the highest at 59.3 CPG. This does not include the federal gasoline tax of 18.4 CPG, which has not increased since 1993.
Diesel taxes averaged 28.6 CPG as of July 1. Alaska had the lowest tax at 8.95 CPG, while Pennsylvania was again the highest with a 75.8-CPG tax. This also does not include the federal diesel excise tax of 24.4 CPG.
The highest increase in fuel excise tax from July 1, 2016, to July 1, 2017, was in New Jersey, which raised its gasoline tax by 23 CPG and its diesel tax by 27 CPG. The largest decreases during this time period were in Iowa, which lowered its gas tax by 1.2 CPG and its diesel tax by 1 CPG, and in California, which cut its diesel tax by 4.5 CPG.
The Northeast and Midwest saw most of the fuel-tax increases from July 1, 2016, to July 1, 2017. EIA found that for the first half of 2017, the spread between the retail price for regular-grade gasoline and the U.S. average wholesale price was 68 CPG, or 3 CPG higher than first-half 2016. This reflects the tax increases in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
In the Midwest, the spread between regular-grade retail and wholesale prices was 2 CPG higher in first-half 2017 vs. first-half 2016, to average 61 CPG.
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