Pennsylvania relies heavily on its gas tax for transportation funding- even if the policy becomes an easy target when prices at the pump rise.
Pennsylvania has a 57.6¢ gas tax- the second highest in the nation. It also has the fifth largest state-maintained road system in the country.
Over 40,000 miles of state owned asphalt roll through hills and fields, all of them repaired by money from a gas tax.
“People, if they are traveling across Pennsylvania, can see that right now. There’s a lot of construction on our roads,” said Rep. Kathy Rapp, a Republican for Warren, Forest, and Crawford Counties.
The gas tax brought in $3.5 billion dollars to the motor license fund in the 2024/25 fiscal year, according to numbers shared by a spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.
“Under the Pennsylvania constitution, the fuel tax can only be used for maintaining highway and bridge needs,” said Jason Wagner, director of government affairs for the Association of Pennsylvania Constructors.
By Kara Jeffers
Around 5% of the gas tax ($250 million) does go to state police, though lawmakers have worked for a decade to remove them from the fund. Roughly 13% of the state gas tax also goes to local road construction.
“There are county owned bridges, state owned bridges– there’s a big formula,” said Rep. Kerry Benninghoff, Republican chair of the House Transportation Committee.
The isolated fund has lead to state lawmakers treating the gas tax as the primary source of funding for road and bridge work; compared to other states that use multiple funding sources for their transportation.
“I believe it’s one of the most fair taxes we have. Because of that, if you drive more, you pay more. If you drive less, you pay less.
While the tax can be easy to hate;
“We have bills actually to suspend the gas tax for the summer. That would bring real affordability to those main travel months,” said Rep. Clint Owlett, a Republican for Tioga and Bradford Counties, and part of House Republican Leadership. He noted suspension policies would need a plan to supplement the lost revenue.
Rep. Ed Neilson, the Democratic chair of the House Transportation Committee, cautions that gas tax pauses lead to delayed and higher cost projects.
“We saw it happen in Florida. The governor of Florida did it a few years back, and and he actually said, ‘I’ll never do that again’,” Neilson said.
“We’re not charging any more than we have to in order to pay our bills,” Benninghoff said.