Gasoline Excise Tax—Historical Revenues: Fact Sheet

Gasoline Excise Tax—Historical Revenues: Fact Sheet

97-456 E
Updated September 16, 1997
CRS Report for Congress
Received through the CRS Web
Gasoline Excise Tax—Historical Revenues:
Fact Sheet1
Louis Alan Talley
Research Analyst in Taxation
Economics Division
The federal government has levied a tax on gasoline since 1932. For many years, the
proceeds of the tax went into the general fund of the Treasury. Although at the time of
enactment there was no earmarking of any kind, federal highway aid was continuously
granted to the states. It was not until 1956, as part of a program for a 40,000-mile
national system of interstate highways, that the federal gasoline tax was increased and the
proceeds paid into a trust fund set up to finance the federal government’s share (90%) of
the cost of the interstate highway system. With the passage of the Omnibus Budget
Reconciliation Act of 1990, the gasoline tax returned (at least in part) to the role it served
before 1957: a general fund revenue source. Included in the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997
(P.L. 105-34) are provisions that return the general fund portion of the tax back to the
Highway Trust Fund and reauthorizes the tax collected for the Leaking Underground
Storage Tank trust fund beginning October 1, 1997.
Thus, with the beginning of fiscal year 1998, the disposition of revenues collected
from the 18.4 cents federal excise tax on gasoline will change. Under the law, 15.45 cents
goes to the Highway Account, 2.85 cents to the Mass Transit Account, and .1 cent to the
LUST trust fund. While the former deficit reduction component of the federal gasoline
tax has no expiration date, 14 cents of the tax expires September 30, 1999. It may be that
this tax will see reauthorization when Congress considers extension of the Intermodal
Surface Transportation Efficiency Act, which expires September 30.

In the Analytical Perspectives volume of the Budget of the United States Government
for fiscal years 1996, 1997, and 1998, the amounts of revenues from transportation fuels
are reported. In FY1994, all transportation fuel taxes contributed $9.402 billion to the
general fund with contributions falling to $8.491 billion in FY1995. The contribution
further fell to $7.468 billion in FY1996 and is projected to raise $7.669 in FY1997.The
table that appears on the following page presents collections from the federal excise tax
on gasoline (and not all transportation fuels).
1 This fact sheet does not track particular bills or legislation. The author plans to update this
report in the future to reflect legislative changes and collection figures. For information about
current legislation and its status, please consult the Bill Summary and Status file of the
Legislative Information System (http://www.congress.gov).
Congressional Research Service ˜ The Library of Congress

CRS-2
TABLE 1. Gasoline Excise Tax Collections
(in thousands of dollars)
Fiscal
Fiscal
Year
Collections
Year
Collections
1933
$124,929
1965
2,687,135
1934
202,575
1966
2,824,189
1935
161,532
1967
2,932,894
1936
177,340
1968
3,030,792
1937
196,533
1969
3,186,239
1938
203,648
1970
3,430,076
1939
207,019
1971
3,547,678
1940
226,187
1972
3,741,160
1941
343,021
1973
3,927,535
1942
369,587
1974
4,087,669
1943
288,786
1975
3,980,412
1944
271,217
1976
4,125,674
1945
405,563
Transition 1,091,428
Quarter
1946
405,695
1977
4,322,077
1947
433,676
1978
4,444,484
1948
478,638
1979
4,525,065
1949
503,647
1980
4,218,147
1950
534,270
1981
4,007,956
1951
588,647
1982
4,214,373
1952
734,715
1983
4,904,580
1953
890,679
1984
9,021,518
1954
836,893
1985
9,062,387
1955
954,678
1986
8,854,674
1956
1,030,397
1987
8,925,028
1957
1,458,217
1988
9,167,139
1958
1,636,629
1989
9,725,089
1959
1,700,253
1990
9,465,647
1960
2,015,863
1991
14,468,500
1961
2,370,303
1992
14,759,324
1962
2,412,714
1993
14,753,020
1963
2,497,316
1994
19,794,300
1964
2,618,370
1995
19,918,500
Sources: For fiscal years 1933 to 1961, collection figures have been taken from the
Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances for the fiscal
year ended June 30, 1962.
For fiscal years 1962 to 1979, collection figures have been taken from the Statistical
Appendix to the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the
Finances for fiscal year 1979.
For fiscal years 1980 to 1987, collection figures have been derived from appropriate
Annual Reports of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue published by the Department
of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service, Publication 55.
For fiscal years 1988 to 1993, collection figures have been derived from appropriate
information release entitled Internal Revenue Report of Excise Taxes.
For fiscal years 1994 and 1995, collection figures have been taken from the Internal
Revenue Service Statistics of Income Bulletin, v. 16, no. 2, Fall 1996. p. 167.