New Web Tool Allows West Virginians to Calculate State Gasoline Tax Payments

New Web Tool Allows West Virginians to Calculate State Gasoline Tax Payments  

Publication: WVBT Press Release
Release Date: 05/26/08

Charleston, W.Va. – How much does a driver in West Virginia pay in state gasoline taxes to support the West Virginia Road Fund? West Virginians will now be able to answer that question thanks to a new tool featured on the website (www.keepwvmoving.org) of West Virginians for Better Transportation (WVBT).

WVBT’s gas tax calculator was launched today as a way to help educate and inform West Virginians on how much they are contributing toward the state's transportation system, whether for road paving, bridge repairs, snow removal, highway construction or guardrail installation.  State Road Funds also are used to match for hundreds of millions of federal highway funds.

“With the arrival of Memorial Day weekend and the traditional start of the summer driving season, our organization felt this online calculator would be a timely and useful tool in our ongoing education mission,” said Joe Deneault, WVBT chairman. “Many West Virginians probably do not have a clear idea of just what amount they are paying toward the maintenance, repair and construction of our state’s transportation infrastructure.”

And the process to determine this is actually quite easy, Deneault explained. A visitor just simply enters into the gas tax calculator the number of miles driven during a certain period of time, and then he or she enters the average gas mileage of a vehicle and the gas tax calculator takes care of the rest. Regardless of what time period is selected, a user is shown the amount of state gasoline taxes paid based either on a daily, weekly, monthly and yearly basis.

State gasoline taxes are the major revenue source for West Virginia’s Road Fund, accounting for approximately 60 percent. The money is used for a variety of transportation-related activities, including:

• Maintenance and repairs to state roads and highways
  
  
• Snow removal services on state roads, bridges, highways and Interstates
  
  
• Paving (except roads maintained by cities)
  
  
• Bridge repairs and construction work
  
  
• Guardrails and other road safety barriers
  
  
• Matching transportation funding from the federal government

Although motorists are getting frustrated with the continued escalation in oil prices, many may not be aware that the state’s gasoline tax rate is fairly static…not tied, generally, to price fluctuations, Deneault said.

As drivers react and start to change their habits and decrease their driving, Deneault noted that they need to understand that this will have an unavoidable negative impact on the Road Fund by reducing the amount of money available for our transportation system and its needs. Case in point, State Tax Commissioner Virgil Helton informed the legislative Council of Finance and Administration last week that state gas tax collections came in 7 percent less than projected for the month of April. The collections were down 4 percent compared to April 2007.

“The time has come to develop a long-term transportation solution that does not rely as heavily on gas tax collections,” Deneault said. “If these trends continue, the impending transportation crisis our coalition fears will come sooner and hit even harder.”

To access WVBT’s gas tax calculator, go to http://www.keepwvmoving.org/gastax/default.aspx.