Our dedicated excise tax experts, Adam Hoffer and Jacob Macumber-Rosin, provide leading tax policy research, analysis, and commentary of the latest proposals and trends related to excise taxes. Explore the vast and changing world of excise taxation.
As energy prices have declined, European countries have switched the focus of their windfall profits taxes—a one-time tax levied on a company or industry when economic conditions result in large, unexpected profits—from energy providers to the banking and financial sector.
6 min read
California levies the highest tax on gasoline at 70.9 cents per gallon (cpg), followed by Illinois at 66.4 cpg and Washington at 59.0 cpg.
8 min read
Cigarette smokers in the European Union pay far more in excise taxes than they do for the cigarettes themselves. Our latest map illustrates the wide variance in cigarette excise taxes across EU Member States.
5 min read
In a surprising tax code alteration that has frustrated Americans who enjoy gambling, a provision in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act limits gambling losses that can be used to offset gambling winnings to 90 percent of their value. This provision introduces a steep tax penalty for professional gamblers and certain casual bettors.
5 min read
As the market share of electric vehicles (EVs) on the road grows, the gas tax’s ability to fund road projects and decrease traffic congestion erodes. Both federal and state real tax revenue per vehicle mile traveled has been on a steady decline for decades, creating a fiscal gap for road expenditures even as the demand for road infrastructure improvements has grown.
5 min read
Even if tobacco tax increases generate more revenue in the short run, the shrinking tax base guarantees long-run revenue declines.
7 min read
Growing cigarette tax levels and differentials have made cigarette smuggling both a national problem and a lucrative criminal enterprise.
6 min read
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) significantly alters the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) green energy subsidies.
6 min read
Our experts explain how this major tax legislation may affect you and how policymakers can better improve the tax code.
24 min read
The European Commission proposed new budget options for 2028 to 2034. It is worth zooming in on one new proposal for revenues that would support EU-level spending. The “Corporate Resource for Europe,” or CORE, provides a good opportunity to think through how best to raise revenue for the EU budget.
5 min read
The One Big Beautiful Bill is now law—but what does it actually do? In this episode, we break down the new tax law’s key provisions, including who benefits, who doesn’t, and what it means for the economy, tax certainty, and the federal deficit.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act makes many of the individual tax cuts and reforms of the TCJA permanent. It improves upon the TCJA by making expensing for R&D and equipment permanent. However, for the most part, it does not include further structural reforms, and instead introduces many new, narrow tax breaks to the code, adding complexity and raising revenue costs.
7 min read
While well-designed excise taxes can make society better off, some of the health taxes proposed by the WHO use a pretty façade to cover for policies that fail to deliver their promised benefits.
5 min read
President Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act into law on July 4, 2025.
18 min read
Tax Foundation Europe’s Sean Bray interviews Dr. Monika Köppl-Turyna, director of the EcoAustria Institute for Economic Research, about the future of the EU tax mix.
14 min read
Congress is racing to pass the One Big Beautiful Tax Bill before the July 4 deadline. In this episode, Kyle Hulehan and Erica York break down what just happened over the weekend, what’s actually in the bill, and what comes next as the House and Senate try to reconcile their differences.
In recent years, several countries have taken measures to reduce carbon emissions, including instituting environmental regulations, emissions trading systems (ETSs), and carbon taxes.
4 min read
The American Revolution was a tax revolt over the power to tax, not over tax burdens. It serves as a reminder that tax policy can have impacts (big and small) that last for centuries.
Summer has arrived, and states are beginning to implement policy changes that were enacted during this year’s legislative session (or that have delayed effective dates or are being phased in over time).
28 min read
The House-passed reconciliation bill leaves out Trump’s promise to eliminate taxes on Social Security benefits, opting instead to expand the standard deduction for seniors.