CRS Issues Federal Fuel Excise Tax Fact Sheet
97-456 E
- AuthorsTalley, Louis Alan
- Institutional AuthorsCongressional Research Service
- Code Sections
- Subject Area/Tax Topics
- Index Termsfuel, taxesexcise taxescollections
- Jurisdictions
- LanguageEnglish
- Tax Analysts Document NumberDoc 97-11687 (2 original pages)
- Tax Analysts Electronic Citation97 TNT 81-57
97-456 E
April 16, 1997
CRS REPORT FOR CONGRESS
GASOLINE EXCISE TAX -- HISTORICAL REVENUES:
FACT SHEET 1
Louis Alan Talley
Research Analyst in Taxation
Economics Division
[1] 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 prior to 1957: a general fund revenue source.
[2] A number of recent congressional moves suggest the deficit reduction 4.3 cent per gallon excise tax on all motor fuels may be reconsidered. A bipartisan task force set up last October by House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Archer is studying the taxation of transportation generally. Also, many congressional members want to increase funding for highway infrastructure when the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act, which expires September 30, comes up for reauthorization. Other congressional considerations include directing a portion of fuel taxes to funding of Amtrak or the financing of state infrastructure banks (SIBs).
[3] 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. Their contribution to the general fund fell to $8.491 billion in FY1995. The contribution further fell to $7.468 billion in FY1996. If rates remain the same it is projected that $7.669 will be collected in FY1997, rising to $7.835 billion in FY1998. The table which appears on the following page presents collections from the federal excise tax on gasoline.
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.
FOOTNOTE
1 This fact sheet does not track particular bills or legislation. The author plans to update this report in the future to reflect changes in the amount of collections.
END OF FOOTNOTE
- AuthorsTalley, Louis Alan
- Institutional AuthorsCongressional Research Service
- Code Sections
- Subject Area/Tax Topics
- Index Termsfuel, taxesexcise taxescollections
- Jurisdictions
- LanguageEnglish
- Tax Analysts Document NumberDoc 97-11687 (2 original pages)
- Tax Analysts Electronic Citation97 TNT 81-57