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CRS Issues Federal Fuel Excise Tax Fact Sheet

APR. 16, 1997

97-456 E

DATED APR. 16, 1997
DOCUMENT ATTRIBUTES
Citations: 97-456 E

                              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

 

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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.

 

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