New Report: Hidden Gas Tax Has Added $10 Billion per year to Motorists’ Fuel Costs since 2007
NEW YORK, NY – Gas prices have fallen tremendously—down more than $1 per gallon from this time last year—and federal legislators are seizing the opportunity to push for an increase in gasoline taxes to fund road improvements and keep the Highway Trust Fund solvent. In a new report, Manhattan Institute Senior Fellow Robert Bryce argues that Congress shouldn’t even consider increasing the gasoline tax before first repealing a hidden tax on gasoline he refers to as the “corn ethanol tax.”
The Renewable Fuel Standard, enacted in the mid-2000s, requires costly and inefficient corn ethanol to be mixed into gasoline. The result is about $10 billion more per year in fuel costs, or $47 per driver per year. In the report, Bryce discusses the politics and economics behind this requirement—and why it’s a terrible deal for consumers.
Click here to read the full report.
Are you interested in supporting the Manhattan Institute’s public-interest research and journalism? As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, donations in support of MI and its scholars’ work are fully tax-deductible as provided by law (EIN #13-2912529).