Vermont gas tax
State fuel excise · tax year 2026 · federal tax excluded
On a 20-gallon fill
$2.42
Over 500 gallons
$61
Per gallon
12.1¢
state only
Rate rank
48
1 is the highest
What Vermont charges at the pump
- Every time you fill a tank in Vermont, part of what you pay is tax the state charges on fuel. On a twenty-gallon fill it comes to $2.42. You never see it on the receipt because it is baked into the price at the pump. Across a year of ordinary driving it adds up to $61, and Vermont ranks 48 nationally on the rate behind it.
- Vermont charges more on diesel than on regular gasoline. The same twenty-gallon fill costs $5.60 in tax rather than $2.42 — a difference of $3.18 every time. Over a year of the same driving that gap is $140 against the gasoline figure.
- Vermont adds a little more beyond the main fuel tax. Inspection and environmental charges come to $3.83 on a twenty-gallon fill. It is not large, and it is not optional either.
- Vermont's motor fuel excise adds $2.42 to a twenty-gallon gasoline purchase and $61 across five hundred gallons, ranking 48 nationally by rate. ⚠️ Federal excise is excluded from both figures: it is identical in every state, so including it would compress the interstate differences this page exists to show. Fuel excise is levied per gallon rather than as a percentage, which means its real value erodes with inflation unless a legislature or an indexing formula moves it.
- Diesel is taxed above gasoline in Vermont: $5.60 per twenty gallons against $2.42, a differential of $3.18 per fill and $140 across five hundred gallons. ⚠️ The differential is deliberate policy rather than an accident of drafting — heavier vehicles impose disproportionate road wear, and a higher diesel rate is the standard instrument for recovering it.
- Beyond the principal excise, Vermont levies separately-reported charges on motor fuel worth $3.83 per twenty gallons. ⚠️ Because states differ in whether such charges are consolidated into the headline rate or reported apart, cross-state rate tables — including the rank on this page — are not strictly comparable at the margin.
Your year of fuel tax
A $75,000 salary
| State fuel taxper gallon | 12.1¢ |
|---|---|
| Fuel tax, year | $76 |
| You must earn | $118 |
| Hours of work | 3.3 hr |
State excise only. Federal fuel tax and any local levy are not included.
Tax in a tank
A $75,000 salary
| State rate | 12.1¢ a gallon |
|---|---|
| Tank costs | $44.80 |
| Fifty tanks a year | $84.50 |
State excise only. The federal fuel tax and any local levy are on top of this.
Gasoline, diesel, and the charges reported separately
Per-gallon rates are shown as Vermont publishes them, to a tenth of a cent. The money columns are what those rates come to on a 20-gallon fill and across 500 gallons. Federal tax is charged on top of all of it and is not included.
| Fuel | Per gallon | On a fill | Over a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gasoline | 12.1¢ | $2.42 | $61 |
| Diesel | 28.0¢ | $5.60 | $140 |
| Other state charges | 19.2¢ | $3.83 | — |
What this page cannot tell you
- ⚠️ Federal fuel tax is charged on top of all this and is not included above. It is the same everywhere in the country.
- The tank and the year here are round reference amounts, not a guess at your driving. Your own total scales directly with the gallons you actually buy in Vermont.
- And some places add local fuel taxes of their own on top of the state's. Those are not counted here.
- ⚠️ Federal motor fuel excise applies in addition to every figure on this page and is deliberately excluded, being uniform nationally. Including it would raise each state's figure by the same amount and compress the differences this page exists to show.
- Quantities are reference points rather than estimates of consumption: liability is strictly proportional to gallons purchased, so any household's figure is this one scaled by its own volume. ⚠️ Fuel purchased outside Vermont is taxed by the state where it is bought, which is why the figures describe purchases rather than mileage.
- Local option fuel taxes exist in a number of states and are excluded from these figures, which cover the state levy only. Where a county or city in Vermont imposes its own charge, the true per-gallon burden at that address exceeds what this page reports.
Questions people ask
Why is there no tax line on my fuel receipt?
Because it was charged long before you got there. Fuel tax is levied per gallon on the way to the pump, so the price on the sign already contains it — nothing is added at the register, and the amount does not change with what the fuel happens to cost that week.
Is this a cheap state for this?
It sits low, at 48 of 51. That is the tax rather than the price — the rest of what you pay is production and margin.
Is diesel taxed the same as gasoline?
It has a separate rate, above the gasoline one in this state. The two are set independently, generally on arguments about road damage from heavy freight.
Why does motor fuel excise not appear as a separate charge?
Motor fuel excise is levied per gallon at the distributor or terminal, not at retail, so it is embedded in the pump price and not separately stated. Because it is volumetric rather than ad valorem, liability per gallon is invariant to the retail price and its real value erodes with inflation absent legislative change.
Where does this state sit in the national distribution?
This state ranks 48 of 51, in the lower third. ⚠️ Excise rank is a poor proxy for retail price: production, distribution and retail margin dominate the final figure, and the tax component is the only part under state control.
How does the diesel rate relate to the gasoline rate here?
Diesel is taxed at a rate set independently of gasoline and is higher in this state. The differential is generally justified by road-wear attribution to heavy vehicles rather than by fuel characteristics, and several states index the two grades differently.