Pennsylvania’s National-High Diesel Tax to Soar Another 14 Cents on Jan. 1
Pennsylvania truckers, who already pay the nation’s highest diesel fuel taxes, won’t be happy when they fill their vehicles after the New Year. That’s because on Jan. 1 that tax will rise from 63.87 cents per gallon to 77.59 cents per gallon.
Truckers elsewhere don’t pay more than 49.4 cents per gallon.
Also, gas is increasing from 50.3 cents per gallon to 58.2 cents per gallon.
Pennsylvania’s three-year-old transportation funding law, Act 89, is the basis for the high rates.
“Comparisons with fuel tax rates in other states are misleading,” said Pennsylvania Department of Transportation spokesman Rich Kirkpatrick. “In Pennsylvania, we have a user fee system. Drivers pay some fees and fuel taxes that go into a dedicated fund that supports highway and bridges and also state police enforcement. Meeting the transportation and state police needs has been challenging as state police costs have risen dramatically over the last decade. The added revenue is needed for critically needed bridge and road repairs that benefit the trucking industry.”
Which is why the Pennsylvania Motor Truck Association supported Act 89. However, PMTA President Kevin Stewart is concerned about this year’s diesel price hike.
“Act 89 brought in much-needed infrastructure revenues to the Commonwealth,” Stewart said. “However, an almost 14 cent per gallon increase will have a significant impact on a carrier’s bottom line and may impact the ability of many carriers to invest in new technologies or more fuel efficient vehicles. I don't believe anyone anticipated or planned for that large of an increase.”
State Rep. Joseph Petrarca introduced a bill in July that would have prevented wholesale fuel prices from rising but it died in committee.
“With the added resources from the Act 89 revenue increases, PennDOT is making significant progress against a huge backlog of highway and bridge improvement needs,” Kirkpatrick said, noting that the number of structurally deficient bridges have been cut from 6,034 in 2008 to 3,662 in 2016. “Pennsylvania has a large and old network of highways and bridges that still needs a lot of work. We have the fifth largest state-maintained highway system and the third largest state-maintained bridge system. That system is roughly the same size of the state-maintained systems of all of New York, New Jersey and the New England states combined.”
