Ditch the federal gas tax for a vehicle weight fee, auto trade group CEO says
At gas stations in Arlington, Virginia, regular gasoline was selling for about $4.25 per gallon on Friday, April 3, 2026, reflecting a broader national surge that has pushed prices to their highest levels in years. (Photo by Fatih Aktas/Anadolu via G
Higher fuel efficiency and a lower share of gas-powered vehicles is a bad combination when it comes to paying to repair the nation’s infrastructure, the head of an auto industry trade group argues. In response, he suggests ditching the federal gasoline tax and replacing it with something else.
Big picture view:
In a post this week, Alliance for Automotive Innovation CEO John Bozzella argued the Highway Trust Fund is running out of money and now is the right time for Congress to act. He suggested scrapping current, nationwide tax and, instead, charging fees based on how much the vehicle weighs.
What they're saying:
"We can drive with the devil we know… or get behind a new policy that requires every vehicle on the road to contribute to the upkeep of America’s roads and bridges," Bozzella contended.
RELATED: Amazon hiking some prices; blames higher fuel costs
By the numbers:
Currently, the federal tax on gasoline is 18.4 cents per gallon, while on diesel, it stands at 24.3 cents. Bozzella noted that is the same rate as in 1993 when gas prices were around $1.11 per gallon. Since that year, revenue from the gas tax has declined 60 percent in real value when accounting for inflation, FOX Business reported.
Plus, those taxes are based on fuel usage. The market share for traditional gasoline vehicles has plummeted 24 percentage points in the past decade, according to Bozzella’s numbers, and hybrids made up 19 percent of all sales in the first month of this year. As for cars that do not even need gasoline to run, online searches for electric vehicles have jumped 20 percent since the Iran war began, Bozzella noted.
RELATED: United Airlines checked bag fees climbs $10-50 as fuel prices nearly double since Iran war
A gas tax alternative?
Dig deeper:
Bozzella, whose organization represents automakers like General Motors, Toyota, Volkswagen, and Hyundai, pushed the idea of taxing people based on how much their vehicle weighed rather than how much gas they used. He said that would ensure that everyone who uses the roads helps pay for their maintenance.
He claimed that doing so would allow the federal government to fully fund the Highway Trust Fund. However, Bozzella did not offer any indication as to how much that fee would need to be. He said Congress would have to come up with a formula.
The Source: Information for this article was taken from the Association for Automotive Innovation, the U.S. Department of Transportation, and FOX Business. This story was reported from Orlando.