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Gasoline Excise Tax - Historical Revenues: Fact Sheet , Record No.: 97-456 E, Date: September 16, 1997 1 (September 16, 1997)

handle is hein.tera/crstax0172 and id is 1 raw text is: 97-456 E
Updated September 16, 1997
CRS Report for Congress
Received through the CRS Web
Gasoline Excise Tax-Historical Revenues:
Fact Sheet'
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 ReliefAct 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 FYI 995. 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

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