What is the fuel tax rate on e85 ethanol?

Question

What is the fuel tax rate on e85 ethanol?

Answer 1

Overall, probably negative, in terms of subsidies to the agricultural sector.

Answer 2

It varies by state/country. In Minnesota, for example, it's 30 cents/gallon; in Wisconsin, 32.9/gallon; in North Dakota, 23/gallon; in South Dakota, 24/gallon... you get the point.

Answer 3

At issue is the over-taxing of motorists who have elected to purchase E85 instead of gasoline.  Rather than encouraging the use of a cleaner-burning, renewable-based, American-made gasoline alternative, many state rules result in the E85 user paying more per mile in road taxes than gasoline or diesel fuel users.

Fuels vary by their respective energy contents. This is true whether one is comparing diesel, gasoline, E85, propane, hydrogen, natural gas, methanol or others.

For instance, a gallon of gasoline may contain 120,000 British thermal units (BTUs) of energy, while a gallon of E85 will contain 86,000 BTUs. This is, albeit a worse case scenario, an approximate 29% reduction in energy content compared to gasoline. In operation, it translates to a lesser distance traveled by a vehicle fueling on E85 compared to that same vehicle fueled with gasoline.  If a state motor fuel tax is the same for gasoline and E85 and based on a per gallon fee, the E85 user is being unfairly penalized.