GA Gas Tax Questions

If the GA gasoline tax has been 26.5 cents per gallon and the GA Legislature has proposed 29 cents per gallon as an excise tax, what happened to the old 7.5 cents per gallon GA excise tax ?   Is it still in effect ?  There is also a 4% sales tax on gasoline, I assume that goes to the general fund. This doesn’t add up.  Drivers would like all taxes attached to gasoline sales to be used on roads and bridges.

State gasoline taxes are 26.5 cents per gallon and Federal gasoline taxes are 18.4 cents a gallon.  Combined, they total 44.9 cents a gallon.  If we still buy 3 billion gallons a year in Georgia, our total gasoline tax revenue should be $1.35 billion a year. If we add the $805 million ad valorem tax we would have $2.2 billion to use for roads and bridges http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_taxes_in_the_United_States

If I add the 7.5 cents per gallon excise tax to the 3 billion gallons a year, I get an additional $225 million.  If I add the 4% sales tax and use our current $2 per gallon cost, I get an additional $240 million.  That would bring car related revenue to $2.665 billion.

Federal revenue for transportation is projected to be $1.7 billion in the 2016 GA Transportation Plan. How much of that do we spend on roads and bridges, or is half of it spent on bike lanes, multi-use trails, complete streets, sidewalks trollies, pedestrian bridges, streetscapes and MARTA or GRTA. Does it include the grants to states doled out by DOT for GDOT and ARC slush fund ?  

Sales tax on auto sales could also be thrown in to the road fund.

I also believe we are being “hosed” by engineering firms and road construction companies who have doubled the cost per lane-mile road construction beginning in 2009.  The cost of milling and resurfacing asphalt should be $75,000 per lane mile.  The costs I’ve seen are closer to $150,000 per lane mile.

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader

Posted on ntlconsulting.blogspot.com 1/30/15