Gasoline Excise Tax -- Historical Revenues: Fact Sheet

Publication Date: November 2004

Publisher: Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

Author(s):

Research Area: Energy

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Abstract:

The federal government first imposed a gasoline excise tax with the passage of the Revenue Act of 1932. The rate was one cent per gallon. During the early years of the tax, the proceeds went into the general fund of the Treasury. It was not until 1956, when Congress established the Highway Trust Fund, that revenue receipts from the gasoline tax were dedicated to a trust fund for highway programs. The conventional wisdom was that the gas tax represented a user tax. Subsequently, in response to large federal budget deficits, Congress returned a portion of the gasoline excise tax to general revenues (from December 1990 until October 1997). After that period, the general fund portion of the tax was redirected to the Highway Trust Fund.