Motor vehicle traffic moves along the Interstate 76 highway in Philadelphia, March 31, 2021. Dozens of Republican attorneys general on Monday, May 13, 2024, took legal action against the Biden Administration and California over new emissions limits for trucks.
“The vast majority of road funding tax revenue shortfalls in recent years are directly related to inflation and the fact that the federal government has not raised gas taxes in over 30 years,” said Chis Harto, senior energy policy analyst at Consumer Reports. “Many states have also not raised gas taxes in a long time.”
But conservatives contend that raising gas taxes forces the drivers of gas-powered cars to subsidize the Biden administration’s push for EVs, which they blame for adding to highway repair costs. Meanwhile, some libertarians support taxing all vehicles per mile as a more equitable means of collecting enough revenue for state transportation funds.
A Reason Foundation study estimates that state gas tax revenues will fall between 30% and 50% by 2050, depending on EV sales. And the National Conference for State Legislators has noted that most states have capped how much their gas taxes can go up with inflation.blamed the lion’s share of revenue declines on improved fuel efficiency in conventional and hybrid cars. However, he predicted the growing share of EV owners will cause “a greater impact” in the future.