Washington, D.C. Gas Tax

Washington, D.C. taxes motor vehicle fuel in two parts. The motor fuel tax is a fixed 23.5¢ a gallon. On top of it, a local transportation surcharge is dedicated to the District’s capital program for repairing and maintaining local roads and transit infrastructure.

The surcharge is the part that changes. It is calculated from a base of 10.3¢ a gallon multiplied by a Consumer Price Index factor, and it is reset every October 1. The most recent change, on October 1, 2025, raised it from 11.8¢ to 12.2¢ a gallon. The 23.5¢ base tax is not adjusted. As the District is not a state, there is no separate county or city layer of fuel tax.

D.C.’s combined tax and surcharge of 35.7¢ a gallon is tied for the 16th-highest of the 50 states and D.C., against a 51-jurisdiction average of 33.8¢.

How the tax fits with fuel supply and price history is covered on the Washington, D.C. gas prices page.

The District’s motor fuel tax and surcharge together come to 35.7¢ a gallon, less than in either state around it. Maryland charges 46.8¢ and Virginia 42.4¢, so a driver commuting from Silver Spring or Arlington buys gasoline under a higher state rate at home than in the city.

A large part of the District’s figure is not the base tax. Of the total, 23.5¢ is the fixed motor fuel tax and 12.2¢ is the inflation-adjusted surcharge, which the EIA counts with other taxes and fees. Fewer than ten states have a larger share of their total outside the excise.

West Virginia’s total is identical, which leaves the District tied for the 16th-highest among the 50 states and D.C. That is above the 51-jurisdiction average of 33.8¢. With the federal 18.4¢ the combined rate is 54.1¢, and the local part is about two-thirds of it; put the other way, the federal tax is a little over half the size of the District’s own charge. Since the surcharge resets each October, the District’s total can move between EIA’s January and July editions while Maryland’s and Virginia’s indexed rates move on their own dates.

In the EIA's July 2026 table, Washington, D.C. stands 11.1¢ below Maryland, and it stands 6.7¢ below Virginia. The table gives 2 bordering states for Washington, D.C., and 2 of 2 of them have a higher state total. Maryland's 46.8¢ (EIA table, July 2026) is the highest state total among those bordering states, and Virginia's 42.4¢ is the lowest. Washington, D.C.'s own 35.7¢ in that July 2026 table is below both of those figures.

The July 2026 table's state totals run from 9.0¢ in Alaska to 73.6¢ in California. Washington, D.C.'s 35.7¢ (EIA table, July 2026) has 15 jurisdictions with a higher state total and 34 with a lower one. Against the 33.8¢ average for the 50 states and D.C. in that July 2026 table, Washington, D.C. is 1.9¢ above, and its total is tied for 16th-highest.

Excise is 66% of Washington, D.C.'s state total in the EIA's July 2026 table: 23.5¢ of the 35.7¢ is excise, and 12.2¢ is other state taxes and fees. The federal tax is 18.4¢ (EIA table, July 2026) everywhere, and adding it gives a combined 54.1¢, of which Washington, D.C.'s own portion is 66%. No local option gasoline tax appears for Washington, D.C. in the EIA's July 2026 table, and county and local taxes are excluded from it.