Should Gas Guzzling Texas Really Tax Electric Vehicles?

Texas is set to start taxing the drivers of electric vehicles $200 a year. The backers of the legislation say it will make up for the road use taxes paid by the owners of gas-powered vehicles when they pay gasoline taxes.

Critics are calling foul. In a state with a large fossil fuel industry, they say the state is trying to ensure that Texas drivers continue to rely on Texas oil, despite overwhelming evidence that burning fossil fuels is contributing to global warming.

Besides, the average owner of a gasoline powered vehicle only pays about $71 a year in gasoline taxes.

Despite all the debate, there is no question about how much gasoline Texas drivers are using. Despite higher prices for gasoline, Texas drivers continue to lead the nation in the overall number of gallons used, according to a study by QuoteWizard from Lending Tree

Texas drivers burned through 39-million gallons of gas. Despite higher costs, this number is only down about 1% from 2021. Given that there are large distances between everything out here in West Texas, it is hard for Texans to drive less. The nearest large city can be over 100 miles away in any direction.

So where does Texas rank when it comes to gasoline consumption per capita.

Rank	State	Gallons per driver	Gallons per person	Total gallons used
1	Montana	411	314	340,106,000
2	Wyoming	363	269	154,924,000
3	Rhode Island	384	256	281,032,000
4	Louisiana	376	276	1,284,822,001
5	Kansas	380	259	761,603,000
6	Texas	398	241	7,035,088,001

As you can see from the chart, Texas is 6th overall, but we're second in gallons used per driver.

Like it or not, the trend in automotive production is towards electric vehicles. The drivers of EV's should pay their fair share of road use taxes.

For the sake of argument, let's hope that no one ever asks the drivers of gasoline powered vehicles to pay a surcharge for the devastating real world damages incurred by the worldwide effects of climate change.

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