West Virginia’s gasoline tax is dropping slightly at the first of the year. Normally, lower taxes would be reason to celebrate, but not in this case. Here’s why:
West Virginia taxes gasoline two ways—a flat 20.5 cent a gallon tax and a 5 percent tax on the wholesale price of fuel, which is recalculated annually based on the average price for the year.
Gas prices have trended downward, so that means the wholesale tax will decline by one cent, lowering the total gasoline tax from the current rate of 33.2 cents to 32.2 cents per gallon. That reduction does not mean much of a savings for you, but it does add up to a considerable cut to the State Road Fund.
West Virginia’s gas tax peaked at 35.7 cents per gallon in 2014 when oil was at $100 a barrel and gas prices were above $3.00. Gas prices have steadily declined since then, bringing down the whole gas tax with it.
The state Department of Revenue estimates that a West Virginia motorist driving 20,000 miles a year in a vehicle that gets 25 mpg will save just $57 on their total gas bill from 2015 through 2017. However, those miniscule gas tax reductions for the motorists add up to $99 million that will not go into the State Road Fund.
The total state highways annual budget is about $1.1 billion, with roughly $400 million coming from state gas tax collections and the rest appropriated by the federal government, so $99 million over three years is real money.
Division of Highways spokesman Brent Walker says the replacement of a small bridge (100 feet or less) costs about $1 million, while repaving costs about $100,000 a mile, so you can see the amount of work that does not get done because of the tax reduction.
We’ve been over this before, and we even started a campaign last year of #FTDR (fix the damn roads). Governor Tomblin and Highways have tried to stretch the dollars, but the job is massive. West Virginia has 37,000 miles of roads winding through our mountains and over our creeks.
We’re not even keeping up with repairs at the current rate, much less building badly needed new roads and bridges.
During the campaign, Jim Justice acknowledged the problem. “Our infrastructure is crumbling all around us,” he told the Beckley Register-Herald. “In order for us to have tourism, we need roads, bridges, (and) broadband.”
The new Governor is aware of the problem, as is anyone who travels through West Virginia, but we don’t yet have a solution that a majority can support.
Meanwhile, West Virginia motorists are saving a few pennies when they fill up, but that imperceptible benefit is lost when they pull back on to the crumbling roads.