Explaining Pennsylvania’s Higher Gas Prices
If you’re like most Americans, you’ve probably been seeing reports that the price of gas has been in a steady decline for the past few months. While that is the case in other states, Pennsylvanians haven’t seen that decline in gas prices. Gasoline costs differ in certain parts of the country, which economists attribute to a variety of factors, including access to the supply chain, taxes, environmental policy, and the cost of doing business in a given area. In the last year, supply has been low and demand has been high, leading to higher prices. But still, Pennsylvania stands out from the rest of the country.
Why is this?
Pennsylvania has the highest state gas tax in the entire country, which comes out to $0.58 per gallon of gas. The average price of gas in Pennsylvania today is $3.71 per gallon, which has caused some residents on the state’s border to travel across state lines just to get cheaper gas. The average gas price in Maryland is only $3.22, just higher than Delaware’s $3.12 per gallon. The Commonwealth’s gas tax goes to support the state’s roadway and bridge repairs, which are especially expensive given that Pennsylvania has more than 25,000 bridges, the third most in the nation, and recently received a C- report card from the American Society of Civil Engineers. PennDOT uses most of the tax revenue for this, but still falls short of the amount needed for proper repairs. Some residents say that the tax is too high, or that they can’t see the difference it is making for infrastructure repairs across the state.
With the price of gas already high due to Russia’s war in Ukraine, legislators on the state level should look to other solutions for repairing our state’s infrastructure. We call on Pennsylvania decision makers to ensure that the tax goes to critical infrastructure repairs. Congress should also look to repeal the ethanol mandate in the Renewable Fuel Standards Act, which has caused an increase in gas prices yet no corresponding benefit to the environment.
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