Pennsylvania tops national gas tax rankings

Pennsylvania has the highest total state taxes for gasoline in the U.S. according to the latest quarterly State Gasoline Tax Report from the American Petroleum Institute (API).

Pennsylvania’s gas tax is 51.6 cents per gallon, while the average across the U.S. is 28.14 cents per gallon. Alaska ranks the lowest at 11.3 cents per gallon.

API’s reports show a weighted average for each state, plus the District of Columbia, so the rates can vary across the state, the group says. It also uses data of the “typical percentages of premium, midgrade, and regular fuel” bought in the states. In states where the tax is a percentage of the price per gallon, API uses the price of fuel AAA reports for the date the report is generated. The most current report is dated April 1, 2015.

The top 10 states, by cents per gallon are:

1. Pennsylvania – 51.60

2. California – 47.58

3. New York – 44.46

4. Hawaii – 43.66

5. Connecticut – 40.86

6. Washington – 37.50

7. Florida – 36.42

8. North Carolina – 36.25

9. West Virginia – 34.60

10. Illinois – 34.08

The bottom 10 states are:

41. Louisiana – 20.01

42. Texas – 20.00

43. Arizona – 19.00

44. New Mexico – 18.88

45. Mississippi – 18.78

46. Missouri – 17.30

47. Oklahoma – 17.00

48. South Carolina – 16.75

49. New Jersey – 14.50

50. Alaska – 11.30

More from API’s quarterly report, including an interactive map, is available here.