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Fact #492: October 22, 2007
Gasoline Taxes in the U.S. and Selected Countries

In 1997, taxes accounted for about one quarter of the price of gasoline in the U.S., but with the rise in the cost of gasoline and no increase in gasoline tax, that share dropped to 13% by 2007. In the other European countries shown here, taxes were about two-thirds of the price of gasoline in 2007.

Supporting Information

Gasoline Taxes and Cost, 1997, 2002, and 2007

	Belgium	France	Germany	Italy	Netherlands	United Kingdom	United States
	1997
Gasoline Cost	1.11	0.84	1.05	1.10	1.15	0.90	1.01
Gasoline Taxes	2.61	2.77	2.48	2.65	2.62	2.90	0.38
Total Gasoline Price	3.72	3.61	3.53	3.75	3.77	3.80	1.39
% Tax	70%	77%	70%	71%	69%	76%	27%
	2002
Gasoline Cost	1.24	1.08	1.16	1.30	1.35	1.05	1.22
Gasoline Taxes	2.55	2.85	2.89	2.69	3.05	3.38	0.38
Total Gasoline Price	3.79	3.93	4.05	3.99	4.39	4.43	1.60
% Tax	67%	72%	71%	67%	69%	76%	24%
	2007
Gasoline Cost	2.81	2.51	2.65	2.83	3.04	2.48	2.65
Gasoline Taxes	4.41	4.33	4.66	4.17	4.80	4.78	0.38
Total Gasoline Price	7.22	6.85	7.31	7.00	7.84	7.26	3.03
% Tax	61%	63%	64%	60%	61%	66%	13%
Source: European Commission, Oil Bulletin, and U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Information Administration, Weekly Petroleum Status Report, October 2007, Table 16.

 

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