Oklahoma Ranked 15th in Return on Federal Fuel Tax

• Joe Wertz
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  Joe Wertz was a reporter and managing editor for StateImpact Oklahoma from 2011-2019. He reported on energy and environment issues for national NPR audiences and other national outlets. He previously worked as a managing editor, assistant editor and staff reporter at several major Oklahoma newspapers and studied journalism at the University of Central Oklahoma.

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Oklahoma receives $1.31 in federal highway money for every $1 OK drivers spend on federal fuel taxes.

The federal government returns .31 cents on top of every dollar Oklahomans pay in federal fuel taxes, according to a recent report from the Government Accountability Office.

The numbers, analyzed by stateline.org, show that Oklahoma and Arkansas tied for the No. 15 spot in a state-by-state breakdown of federal highway aid.

Alaska topped the list at $4.99 per dollar return, while Texas took the No. 50 spot with only $1.03 per dollar.

The study (right-click here to download) was requested by Congress, which is searching for a long-term surface transportation plan since the last major highway bill expired in 2009.

According to the numbers, every U.S. state received more federal highway money than its drivers paid in federal fuel taxes.

States often don’t use the federal money for highways, Stateline reported.

“This flexibility, coupled with a rate-of-return orientation essentially means that the Federal-Aid Highway Program functions, to some extent, as a cash transfer, general purpose grant program,” the GAO concluded in the September report.