Less driving, less gas, less tax

With prices at the pump prompting Ohioans to drive less or buy fuel-efficient cars, the state is collecting less gasoline tax. The result: less money to fix roads and untangle messes such as the I-70/71 merge Downtown.

The state Department of Transportation says it faces an estimated $1.5 billion deficit by 2013, and that’s part of the reason.
The state gas tax brought in $1.83 billion last year, said John Kohlstrand of the state Taxation Department, but it might not reach that this year.

The state receives 28 cents for every gallon of gasoline sold. The federal government gets 18.4 cents per gallon of gasoline and 24.4 cents per gallon of diesel fuel.

“There’s no question that gasoline use is on the decline,” Kohlstrand said. “It either has to be less driving or more fuel-efficient cars. How much of it is one or the other is hard for us to say.”

Columbus Dispatch