Wisconsin Gas Tax

Wisconsin taxes gasoline with a per-gallon excise of 30.9¢ and a 2¢ petroleum inspection fee. Gasoline is not subject to the state sales tax.

The excise used to rise automatically each April with inflation. Indexing began on April 1, 1985, when the rate was 16¢. In 2005 the legislature repealed it, in a bill signed by Governor Jim Doyle, and the last automatic adjustment, on April 1, 2006, set the rate at 30.9¢, where it has stayed for 20 years. Doyle later proposed restoring indexing, but the legislature did not adopt it. The nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau has estimated that, had indexing continued, the tax would be about 6.5¢ higher, and that the repeal has cost the state more than $1.2 billion in transportation revenue.

In the EIA’s July 2026 (revised August 2026) table, Wisconsin’s state taxes and fees total 32.9¢ a gallon, the 21st-highest of the 50 states and D.C., against a 51-jurisdiction average of 33.8¢. Wisconsin pump prices and their history are on the Wisconsin gas prices page.

Wisconsin’s state tax of 32.9¢ a gallon sits in the middle of its four neighbors. Illinois, to the south, charges 71.7¢, more than twice as much, and Michigan, across the Upper Peninsula line, charges 53.4¢. Minnesota’s 32.7¢ is lower by a fraction of a cent, and Iowa’s 30.0¢ is lower again.

The gap with Illinois is wider in practice than the table shows. The EIA marks Illinois as allowing local option fuel taxes, such as those levied in the Chicago area, on top of the state figure, and marks none for Wisconsin. Drivers near Kenosha and Beloit are close to both sets of rates. Much of the Illinois figure, 22.1¢, sits outside the excise, including sales tax on fuel, which Wisconsin does not charge.

Wisconsin’s total is made of an excise of 30.9¢ and a 2.0¢ petroleum inspection fee. With the federal 18.4¢ the combined rate is 51.3¢, and the state accounts for close to two-thirds of it. The 51-jurisdiction average is 33.8¢, so Wisconsin is just under it, the 21st-highest. Minnesota and Nebraska share the next rank down, tied on the same total.

In the EIA's July 2026 table, Wisconsin's 32.9¢ is exceeded by 20 jurisdictions and exceeds the totals of 30 others. The totals in that July 2026 table run from 9.0¢ in Alaska to 73.6¢ in California. Wisconsin's state total is 0.9¢ (EIA table, July 2026) below the 33.8¢ average for the 50 states and D.C.

In the EIA's July 2026 table, 2.0¢ of the state total comes from taxes and fees other than the excise, and the excise is 94% of the 32.9¢. The federal tax of 18.4¢ (EIA table, July 2026) applies in every state, and the state total makes up 64% of the combined state and federal figure.

Wisconsin has 4 bordering states, and Michigan and Illinois are the 2 of 4 with a higher state total in the EIA's July 2026 table. Wisconsin's total is 20.5¢ (EIA table, July 2026) below Michigan's 53.4¢, and it is 38.8¢ below Illinois's 71.7¢. The other 2 neighbours have lower totals: Wisconsin is 0.2¢ (EIA table, July 2026) above Minnesota's 32.7¢, and it is 2.9¢ above Iowa's 30.0¢. Among the bordering states, Illinois has the highest total at 71.7¢ and Iowa has the lowest at 30.0¢, so the 4 neighbouring figures in the July 2026 table range from 30.0¢ to 71.7¢.