Identifying and Quantifying Rates of State Motor Fuel Tax Evasion

Abstract

This report presents the results of a study of state motor fuel tax evasion. The study was intended to provide states with a methodological approach to examine and reliably quantify state motor fuel tax evasion rates and support agency efforts to reduce differences between total fuel tax liability and actual tax collections. While state agencies' unwillingness to make data available for the study limited the research team's ability to achieve fully the project's objectives, the report presents a comprehensive review of the literature on fuel tax evasion, assesses characteristics of state collection and enforcement practices, and identifies how these characteristics have traditionally correlated with certain types of evasion. The report also describes methods that could be used by states seeking to measure motor fuel tax evasion. The report will be useful to state government officials and others responsible for managing fuel tax collection and enforcement programs, researchers, and others concerned with fuel tax evasion and its curtailment.