At 32.2 cents a gallon, West Virginia's gasoline excise tax adds several dollars to the cost of a fill-up - but also provides nearly 60 percent of the state's share of state Road Fund dollars.
"If we would have a loss of that money, we couldn't pave as many miles of roads, and we couldn't fix potholes as quickly," Transportation Secretary Paul Mattox said of the often-raised idea of cutting the gas tax.
For the 2008-09 budget, the gas tax is projected to bring in $380 million - by far the largest source of state funding for highway construction and repair. All other state vehicle taxes, registration and fees will account for less than $258 million. Federal highway funds then will bring in an additional $490 million, upping the 2008-09 Road Fund budget to $1.2 billion.
While nearly three-quarters of that money will go for road construction and renovation (about $260 million goes for maintenance, including snow removal, litter removal, and patching and paving), Mattox said that amount pales in comparison to demands for new road construction.
The Division of Highways maintains a priority list of new highway construction projects, but with a total price tag in excess of $25 billion, Mattox said most of the projects on the list will never be built.
While drivers grumble about fuel costs, Mattox said even a small reduction in the fuel tax can have devastating impact on the Road Fund, as the division saw first-hand in 2006.
In the fall of 2005, Gov. Joe Manchin imposed a freeze on what would have been a 3.8-cent increase in the wholesale portion of the gas tax. (The wholesale portion of the gas tax, currently 11.7 cents a gallon, adjusts annually based on the average wholesale price of gasoline in the previous year.)
For consumers, the freeze amounted to less than $1 savings per fill-up, but cost the Road Fund $52.8 million in lost tax collections, as well as roughly $40 million in federal matching funds.
According to the International Fuel Tax Association, West Virginia's tax is the third highest among states, behind Washington state (currently 36 cents, but going up to 37.5 cents on July 1) and Wisconsin (32.9 cents). However, parts of Florida and Hawaii have higher overall tax rates, including local gas taxes.
At the other end of the spectrum, gas taxes are lowest in Alaska (8 cents), Wyoming (14 cents), New Jersey (14.5 cents) and South Carolina (16 cents).
Mattox said a number of factors contribute to the higher rates in West Virginia, including the reality of having a relatively small tax base to cover the costs of maintaining 36,000 miles of roadways.
In most states, he said, the costs of operating roadways are shared with counties and/or municipalities. "We're one of four states that maintains essentially all of the road system in the state," he said.
The Division of Highways maintains 92 percent of all roads and streets in West Virginia, with a few larger municipalities maintaining some of their city streets, he said. "A lot of other states have local sales taxes or local gas taxes to maintain these roads," Mattox said.
He said some states use other forms of taxation to fund highways, including Louisiana, which he said recently passed a 4 percent surcharge on rental cars to bolster that state's road fund.
Many states are relying on tolls for new highway construction, Mattox said.
He cited one study that indicates about half of all highways currently under construction nationally will be toll roads, and predicted that within four years, almost all new four-lane highways will be toll roads.
