Like many states, Pennsylvania has struggled to find a way to fairly tax owners of electric and other alternative fuels vehicles for lost gas tax revenue, which is the state’s major way of funding highways construction and repairs. Pennsylvania gasoline users pay 61 cents per gallon in state taxes and diesel users pay 78 cents. Those two figures are by far the highest state taxes in the nation, where the average state gasoline tax is 29.15 cents per gallon. With fewer drivers purchasing gas, the revenues are falling short of what’s needed for fixing roads.
On Friday in Harrisburg, the State Senate Transportation Committee approved a bill that would replace the state’s Alternative Fuels Tax, which many owners of non-gasoline vehicles simply ignore, with a flat annual fee of $290, which is what the average owner of gasoline-powered vehicles pays in fuel taxes.
The bill authored by Senator Greg Rothman moves to the full Senate for consideration.
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