Pennsylvania taxes more than other states for gas, gives drivers worse roads

Pennsylvania, like other states, uses gasoline taxes to fund roads and bridges. The commonwealth takes more from drivers at the pump than almost any other state — yet still has more disrepair than most of them.

A comparison of all state gasoline taxes by the nonprofit Tax Foundation shows Pennsylvania’s is 58.7 cents per gallon, the third highest, behind only California’s 69.82 cpg and Illinois’s 66.1. The foundation determines each state’s total gas tax by adding the excise levy — 57.6 cpg in Pennsylvania’s case — to other applicable taxes and fees.

Neighboring left-wing, high-tax strongholds take far less from motorists, with New York levying 24.87 cpg and Delaware charging 23 cpg. New Jersey and Maryland’s taxes are steeper but still exceeded by Pennsylvania, at 44.95 cpg and 46.29 cpg respectively. 

Pennsylvania’s more conservative western neighbors West Virginia and Ohio have lower gas taxes too. Enjoying the lowest rate nationwide is Alaska (8.95 cpg), followed by Mississippi (18.4) and Hawaii (18.5). 

What does Pennsylvania get for squeezing motorists harder than almost any other state? Road quality ranked by U.S. News at 41st. The commonwealth does about as badly or even worse in related categories: 37th in commute time, 43rd in infrastructure generally, 45th in bridge quality and 47th in transportation overall. 

Does the U.S. News analysis have any bright spots for Pennsylvanians? If they happen to be mass-transit enthusiasts, yes, just one: The state ranks fifteenth in public-transportation usage. 

Its major transit systems meanwhile face massive fiscal challenges, often dealt with at the expense of drivers. In the most striking recent example, Governor Josh Shapiro (D) bestowed $153 million in federal highway-construction money on the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority last November, citing fiscal worries that raised fears of service cuts.

So how did Pennsylvania get low road and bridge quality with such high taxation?

For one thing, drivers shoulder a large portion of mass transit costs at the expense of roads. This largely occurs via the state’s Public Transportation Trust Fund (PTTF), which draws much of its revenue from vehicle sales taxes as well as automobile fees and fines. Until two years ago, nearly a third of PTTF money came from the Turnpike. That is no longer the case, as the Turnpike Commissions’s required annual payments to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation dropped from $450 million to $50 million. After Shapiro shifted highway funds to SEPTA last year, Pittsburgh Regional Transit hopes to persuade state officials that it too needs a major funding boost, beyond the $40 million the governor has offered via his current budget proposal.

Additionally, politicians tend to let road and bridge problems mount until they have no choice but to address them, observed Frank Gamrat, executive director of the Pittsburgh-based nonprofit Allegheny Institute. 

“You get that mentality of ‘We have time; don’t worry about it,’” he said, suggesting such complacency results in failures like the 2022 Fern Hollow Bridge collapse in Pittsburgh.

Gamrat said the commonwealth can only expect to get more value for its road and bridge dollar through significant reforms. One present state policy he considers especially unhelpful is the prevailing wage. It mandates that construction tradesmen working on state-funded projects receive the prevailing union pay and benefits within the county, deterring nonunion companies from bidding on these projects.

“You’re left with a limited pool of people who are able to work on roads and bridges and they’re going to be more expensive than a nonunion shop,” Gamrat explained. 

He also advised policymakers to make public transit more cost-efficient by barring agencies’ workers from striking. The level of bargaining power transit-worker unions have enjoyed, he said, has led to significant legacy costs as many workers retire relatively young.  “You need to start by lowering the costs of mass-transit agencies so that they don’t require so much money and you won’t have this flexing away of money from roads and bridges,” he said. 

One recent development he sees as positive for road funding is the new electric-vehicle registration fee — now $200 and scheduled to gradually grow — that will capture money from drivers who use highways and bridges but pay no gas tax.

“I think it’s a good start,” Gamrat opined. 

State officials’ last major attempt to improve bridges and highways came in 2013. Republican Governor Tom Corbett and a GOP-led General Assembly then controversially hiked the Oil Company Franchise Tax, a wholesale charge paid by gasoline distributors who effectively pass the cost on to motorists. 

Shapiro, in his proposal for Fiscal Year 2025-26, asks legislators to approve use of state sales taxes to infuse mass-transit agencies with nearly $300 million, with just over half of that going to SEPTA. He also wants to end the flow of dollars from the fuel-tax dependent Motor License Fund to the State Police, tapping the state’s General Fund to pay for police instead. 

The Independence emailed and called the governor’s office for comment on the commonwealth’s high gas taxes and bad roads, but got no reply. 

Bradley Vasoli is the senior editor of The Independence, where this piece was originally published.