(The Center Square) – Ohio charges motorists some of the country’s highest taxes and registration fees, according to a new report.
The Tax Foundation ranked Ohio’s gas tax as the 15th highest in the country, while registration fees for electric vehicles trail only five other states.
To pay for roads, Ohio’s gas tax of 38.5 cents per gallon ranks 15th highest nationwide, a jump of 14 spots from 2018 after lawmakers added 10 cents to the tax.
It’s a lower ranking than the 10th in 2023, 13th in 2021, 12th in 2020 and 2019.
“The gas tax is meant to function as a user fee, charging drivers to fund the construction and maintenance of the roads they use,” the Tax Foundation said in its report. “User fees attribute the costs of government services to those who use them, avoiding charging people taxes for things they do not want or use.”
The Tax Foundation also recognized the impact of electric vehicles on government revenues to repair and add roads.
“The gas tax is meant to serve as a user fee for the roads, but the efficacy of per gallon excise taxes on fuels continues to deteriorate,” the report said. “As electric vehicles, which do not pay into the gas tax, become increasingly prominent, vehicle fuel efficiencies steadily improve, and inflation continues to erode the real value of revenues from unindexed rates, the gas tax becomes a worse proxy for the price of roads.”
Ohio does not offer any statewide tax credit to buy electric vehicles and charges a $200 registration fee for electric vehicles.
That ranks tied for sixth in the country, only behind Texas’ $400, New Jersey’s $250, Indiana’s $230, Georgia’s $219.84 and Oklahoma’s $210.
The highest gas tax in the nation is in California at 70.9 cents a gallon, followed by Illinois at 66.4 cents and Washington at 59 cents. Alaska’s 8.95 cents is the lowest in the country, followed by Hawaii at 18.5 cents and New Mexico at 18.9 cents.
According to the Automobile Association of America, Ohio’s $3.13 current price per gallon of gas is 6 cents lower than the national average of 3.19.
The state’s price is 9 cents lower than a year ago and the same as a month ago. The price of gas nationally has risen 4 cents in the past month.
