Sources and credits

Why Truckers Beg Congress to Raise Their Own Taxes

Truckers pay more into America's highway fund than anyone else, they keep asking Congress to raise their own fuel tax, and the answer keeps being no. The federal gas tax has been 18.4 cents since 1993, and the fund it feeds runs out of money in 2028. This page lists every source behind the video's claims and credits every piece of footage, image, sound and music in it.

Watch on YouTube

Figures are dated in the video and below. Snapshot numbers were current when the video was locked in August 2026 and will move.

Chapters

0:00August 5, 1993
1:44Part 1 · Born Broke
4:05Part 2 · The Machine
6:26The Trucking Paradox
6:59Part 3 · The Erosion
9:53Part 4 · The Freeze Lobby
12:49Part 5 · The Workaround
15:24The Moral

Sources (43)

Grouped by the part of the story they support. Where accounts or measures differ, the video says so: the tax's lost purchasing power is given two ways (consumer prices and road-building costs), the 2018 presidential endorsement is reported rather than recorded, and whether the gas tax is regressive is presented as contested.

The number: 18.4 cents

Internal Revenue Service, Instructions for Form 720 (Rev. June 2026), and Publication 510, Excise TaxesAs of 2026-06 · irs.gov · irs.gov
Federal Highway Administration, Highway Trust Fund and Taxes fact sheetAs of current law · fhwa.dot.gov
Federal Highway Administration, Highway History, "When did the Federal Government begin collecting the gas tax?" (Richard F. Weingroff)As of 1932 to 1997 · fhwa.dot.gov
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), series CUUR0000SA0As of 1993-10 to 2026-07 · bls.gov · data.bls.gov
Congressional Research Service, R48472, The Highway Trust Fund's Highway Account, June 2025As of FY1993 to FY2025 · congress.gov
Consumer Reports, "Funding the Road Ahead" fact sheetAs of 2026 · advocacy.consumerreports.org
U.S. Energy Information Administration, retail gasoline prices, U.S. regularAs of 1993 to 2026 · eia.gov

Born broke, 1919 to 1993

Eno Center for Transportation, "The Gas Tax at 100: Oregon Enacts America's First-Ever Motor Fuel Tax, February 25, 1919"; Oregon General Laws 1919, chapter 159As of 1919-02-25 · enotrans.org
J. Richard Capka, Federal Highway Administrator, testimony "Celebrating 50 Years of the Eisenhower Interstate Highway System," House Subcommittee on Highways, Transit, and Pipelines, June 27, 2006As of 1956-06-29 · transportation.gov
Federal Highway Administration, Highway History, "Palace Coup: President Ronald Reagan and the Surface Transportation Assistance Act of 1982"As of 1982 to 1983 · fhwa.dot.gov
Ronald Reagan, Radio Address to the Nation on Proposed Legislation for a Highway and Bridge Repair Program, November 27, 1982, and Remarks on Signing the Surface Transportation Assistance Act of 1982, January 6, 1983 (Reagan Library)As of 1982-11 to 1983-01 · reaganlibrary.gov · reaganlibrary.gov
GovTrack, Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993: House Vote 406 (August 5, 1993) and Senate Vote 247 (August 6, 1993)As of 1993-08 · govtrack.us · govtrack.us
Contemporaneous press coverage of Rep. Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky's deciding vote (Time; The Baltimore Sun), August 1993As of 1993-08-05

The machine and the hole

Congressional Budget Office, Highway Trust Fund Accounts: CBO's February 2026 Baseline ProjectionsAs of 2026-02 · cbo.gov
Congressional Budget Office, cost estimate for H.R. 8870, the BUILD America 250 Act, July 9, 2026As of 2026-07 · cbo.gov
Transportation for America, "Analysis: New CBO projection accounting for Trump administration policies shows Americans will pay billions more in fuel taxes," March 3, 2026As of 2026-03 · t4america.org
Eno Center for Transportation, "Highway Trust Fund Ran $26.7 Billion User-Pay Deficit in FY 2024"As of FY2024 · enotrans.org
Congressional Research Service, R47573, general-fund transfers to the Highway Trust FundAs of through 2021 · congress.gov
Congressional Budget Office, presentation 62409 by Chad Shirley to the Mileage-Based User Fee Alliance national conference, June 16, 2026As of 2026-06-16 · cbo.gov

The holiday debate of 2026

Congressional Research Service, R48948, Suspension of the Federal Gas Tax: In Brief, May 15, 2026As of 2026-05-15 · congress.gov
Bipartisan Policy Center, "The Hidden Cost of a Gas Tax Holiday," April 2026As of 2026-04 · bipartisanpolicy.org
Joseph J. Doyle Jr. and Krislert Samphantharak, "$2.00 Gas! Studying the Effects of a Gas Tax Moratorium," Journal of Public Economics, 2008; Tsvetanov (2024)As of 2008 · doi.org

The erosion

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, The 2024 EPA Automotive Trends ReportAs of MY1975 to MY2024 · epa.gov
Alliance for Automotive Innovation, Get Connected Electric Vehicle Report, Q1 2025As of 2025 Q1 · autosinnovate.org
Cox Automotive, Kelley Blue Book Electric Vehicle Sales Report, Q4 2025; U.S. Energy Information Administration, Today in EnergyAs of 2025 · coxautoinc.com · eia.gov

The freeze lobby, and the case against raising it

Americans for Tax Reform, the Taxpayer Protection PledgeAs of ongoing · atr.org
U.S. Chamber of Commerce, plan to modernize America's infrastructure, January 2018As of 2018-01 · uschamber.com
CNBC, "Trump reportedly endorses 25-cent hike in gas tax to pay for infrastructure plan," February 14, 2018As of 2018-02-14 · cnbc.com
Chris Spear, American Trucking Associations, testimony to the Senate Commerce Committee (September 13, 2017) and the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee (December 20, 2017) on the Build America FundAs of 2017 · commerce.senate.gov · govinfo.gov
National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, The Moment of Truth, December 2010As of 2010-12 · govinfo.gov
Congressional Budget Office, Options for Reducing the Deficit: 2025 to 2034, option 60963, Increase Excise Taxes on Motor Fuels and Index for Inflation, December 12, 2024As of 2024-12-12 · cbo.gov
The Hill, "Koch groups urge Trump to oppose gas tax increase," January 2018As of 2018 · thehill.com
Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, Who Pays?; James M. Poterba, "Is the Gasoline Tax Regressive?" NBER Working Paper 3578As of 1991 to 2024 · itep.org · nber.org
U.S. Government Accountability Office, GAO-13-77, Highway Trust Fund: Pilot Program Could Help Determine the Viability of Mileage Fees for Certain Vehicles, December 2012As of 2012 · gao.gov

The states and the world

U.S. Energy Information Administration, "How much tax do we pay on a gallon of gasoline and on a gallon of diesel fuel?"As of 2026-01 · eia.gov
Code of Virginia, section 58.1-2217; New Jersey Department of the Treasury, "Treasury Announces Gas Tax Rate Will Increase by 4.2 Cents Effective January 1, 2026"As of 2022 to 2026 · law.lis.virginia.gov · nj.gov
HM Revenue and Customs, excise duty rates for hydrocarbon oils; House of Commons Library, CBP-10340, Fuel duty: Developments since 2022As of 2026 · gov.uk · researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk
German federal energy tax on gasoline (Energiesteuer), Federal Ministry of FinanceAs of 2026 · bundesfinanzministerium.de
Ministry of the Environment, Government of Japan, report on auto-related environmental taxes (gasoline tax rate)As of 2026 · env.go.jp
Oregon Department of Transportation, OReGO; Hawaii Department of Transportation, "Hawai'i's state road usage charge begins for electric vehicles on July 1," June 30, 2025As of 2025 to 2026 · oregon.gov · hidot.hawaii.gov
State compilations of annual electric vehicle registration feesAs of 2026
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Underground Storage Tanks program; Congressional Research Service, RS21201, Leaking Underground Storage TanksAs of 1986 to 2026 · epa.gov · everycrsreport.com

Map data

U.S. states base map: Blank US Map (states only) by Heitordp and others, Wikimedia Commons, CC0commons.wikimedia.org

Credits

Archival filmPrelinger Archives: “Conquering Roads,” 1937, and “Highway Hearing,” 1956. Public domain.
Archival photographsCar on a muddy road, c. 1924, Webster & Stevens (Museum of History & Industry), via Wikimedia Commons; Walter Reed General Hospital, 1919, Library of Congress; President Reagan signing the Surface Transportation Assistance Act, White House Photographic Office (National Archives, via DPLA); removal of a leaking underground storage tank, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. All public domain.
PortraitsMarjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky, 103rd Congress Pictorial Directory, public domain. Herbert Hoover, 1935 official portrait, Herbert Hoover Presidential Library, public domain. David Koch by Gage Skidmore and Charles Koch by Gavin Peters, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Documents shown on screenCongressional Budget Office: presentation 62409 (June 16, 2026), the Highway Trust Fund baseline (February 2026) and the cost estimate for H.R. 8870 (July 2026); The Moment of Truth, National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, 2010; testimony of Chris Spear, American Trucking Associations, Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, December 2017; Ronald Reagan’s radio address of November 1982 (Reagan Library). Headlines rebuilt on screen as published: NPR, December 2025; CNN, on the end of the federal EV tax credit.
Aerial imageryGoogle Earth: the High Five Interchange, Dallas; a pull-back over Washington, D.C.; farm roads in Oregon’s Willamette Valley; the H-1 freeway on Oahu, Hawaii.
Stock footageStoryblocks, under license: trucks, highways, road construction, gas pumps and price signs, electric vehicle charging, Washington and Senate rooms, the autobahn, a UK petrol station and Tokyo.
MusicYouTube Audio Library: “Cafe Regrette,” “Faultlines,” “Heartbeat Of The Wind,” “Panoramic Arrival” and “Kiss The Heavens,” Asher Fulero; “Pickup Truck,” Silent Partner; “No Rush,” Dyalla. Title and end-card stings, tuesdaynight (Pixabay).
SoundTick, soundshelfstudio; whoosh, low boom and cash register, dragonstudio; paper slide, oxidvideos; riser, pop, click, stamp, camera shutter and marker sounds (Pixabay). Coin, page, pencil and quill sounds, YouTube Audio Library.