The Tax Bite
on Everyday Products….GAS

When you cruise on over to the gas station to fill up your car’s gas tank, you naturally assume that you are paying for gas. What you don’t realize is that over half of what you pay goes to the government in taxes rather than for the gas.

The federal government adds an excise tax of 18.3 cents on every gallon of gas. Each state then adds an additional excise tax now averaging 19.4 cents per gallon. This adds up to a total of 37.7 cents per gallon.

Based on recent price data from the Energy Information Administration of the U.S. Department of Energy, these taxes account for about 28 percent of what you pay for a gallon of gas at the pump.

For a car with a standard 15 gallon gas tank, a tax of 37.7 cents per gallon adds up to $5.66 per fill-up. The Tax Foundation estimates that the average American household will spend $422 this year on these taxes alone.

But that is not all. The government imposes 43 different direct and indirect taxes on the production and distribution of gas. The total tax burden amounts to 54 percent of the price of a gallon of gas.

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