Ohio Economic Experts Panel

Most Recent Survey

October 19, 2026: Fuel Taxes

Earlier this month, Governor Mike DeWine signed House Bill 519, which halts collection of Ohio’s gasoline and diesel fuel tax through January 2, 2027. Ohio’s fuel tax is 38.5 cents per gallon of gasoline and 47 cents per gallon of diesel fuel. Gas prices have since decreased by 35 to 47 cents per gallon across the state. Ohio’s fuel tax is mostly used to construct and repair roads.

Question A: Ohio should rely more heavily on user fees than general tax revenue to finance highways.

Question B: As fuel efficiency and electric-vehicle adoption increase, a vehicle-miles-traveled fee would be a more efficient way to fund Ohio's roads than the motor-fuel tax.

Question C: Ohio's annual registration fee on electric vehicles is an efficient way to make up for lost fuel tax revenue.

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Goal: Policymakers need information from experts to craft policy that is effective, efficient, and equitable. The Ohio Economic Experts Panel is a tool for promoting better policy outcomes by providing policymakers, policy influencers, and the public with the informed opinions of Ohio’s leading economists.

About: The Ohio Economic Experts Panel consists of over 40 economists from colleges and universities throughout the state of Ohio. Panelists answer monthly questions of relevance to state policy indicating the degree to which they agree or disagree with a policy question and their confidence in their answer based on available evidence.

The Ohio Economic Experts Panel is a social bottom line service of Scioto Analysis, a public policy analysis firm based in Columbus, Ohio.

Suggest Questions : If you would like to suggest a question for the Ohio Economic Experts Panel, please email it to michael@sciotoanalysis.com. Questions most likely to be chosen will be those posed as agree/disagree propositions.

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