Quick Facts About the Gas Guzzler Tax
- A combined estimated mileage of less than 22.5 mpg triggers the tax.
- The government only assigns a Gas Guzzler Tax to cars, not SUVs or trucks.
- Automakers must display the tax on offending models’ Monroney label window sticker.
If you haven’t researched current models, shopped for new vehicles, or even dreamed about a high-performance car, you may have only a casual familiarity with what is known as the Gas Guzzler Tax. It’s an excise tax the government imposes on automakers for cars that don’t meet a minimum designated mileage number. For most of the affected models, the carmakers pass the tax along to the consumer. You will find it on the Monroney label (window price sticker) on the glass of new cars.
Our goal here is simply to inform you about the Gas Guzzler Tax: What it is, how it works, which cars it affects, and if it has a future.
- 2025 Gas Guzzler Tax Background
- What Is the Gas Guzzler Tax?
- How Does the Gas Guzzler Tax Work?
- Gas Guzzler Tax Criteria
- Examples of Cars With Gas Guzzler Tax
- Our Take
2025 Gas Guzzler Tax Background
In the late 1970s, the U.S. Congress, in an effort to conserve fossil fuels, passed the 1978 Energy Tax Act. It awarded tax breaks to citizens and businesses employing specific renewable energy solutions to reduce the use of fossil fuels like oil and natural gas. Also included in the legislation was a blueprint to tax cars falling below the regulation’s 22.5 miles per gallon (mpg) standard. Today, we know it as the Gas Guzzler Tax (GGT).
Although the GGT has some merit in the campaign to discourage people from buying lower mpg vehicles, the value of its impact on overall fuel consumption is minimal. Furthermore, the regulation is, as you’ll read on, outdated.
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What Is the Gas Guzzler Tax?
The GGT is a penalty the government imposes on carmakers for every vehicle they make that doesn’t meet the minimum government-estimated fuel economy standard. That standard is 22.5 mpg in combined city and highway driving. It’s a progressive tax, which increases with each mile a car’s combined mpg sinks below the standard, but more about that later.
Although the government dings the carmakers for the tax, the carmakers usually pass it on to the consumer as an added cost item on the Monroney label affixed to the car’s window. Regardless of whether the automaker adds the tax as a line-item cost in the pricing, it must post the tax amount in the window sticker’s fuel-economy section.
Tasked with policing the GGT, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) determines the list of offending models. You can identify vehicles subjected to the Gas Guzzler Tax by checking out the EPA’s 2025 Fuel Economy Guide. Look for cars with “Tax” listed in the “Notes” field of the vehicle listings.
How Does the Gas Guzzler Tax Work?
The 2025 table below shows the 12 tax levels that have been in place since 1991, including “No Tax” for 22.5 mpg. As fuel economy decreases, the amount of the GGT levied on the car increases.
| Combined Fuel Economy Of: | Amount |
| at least 22.5 mpg | No tax |
| at least 21.5, but less than 22.5 mpg | $1,000 |
| at least 20.5, but less than 21.5 mpg | $1,300 |
| at least 19.5, but less than 20.5 mpg | $1,700 |
| at least 18.5, but less than 19.5 mpg | $2,100 |
| at least 17.5, but less than 18.5 mpg | $2,600 |
| at least 16.5, but less than 17.5 mpg | $3,000 |
| at least 15.5, but less than 16.5 mpg | $3,700 |
| at least 14.5, but less than 15.5 mpg | $4,500 |
| at least 13.5, but less than 14.5 mpg | $5,400 |
| at least 12.5, but less than 13.5 mpg | $6,400 |
| less than 12.5 mpg | $7,700 |
Source: EPA Gas Guzzler Tax Program Overview
Which Cars Have the Gas Guzzler Tax?
This is where the GGT shows its age. Remember, the GGT sprang from the 1978 Energy Tax Act. The legislation excluded pickup trucks because, at the time, they were still considered strictly work vehicles. Although the term “SUV” was coined in a 1974 Jeep Cherokee brochure, SUVs, as we know them, were still years away. Moreover, no one in 1978 imagined that nearly five decades later, SUVs would represent more than 50% of total light vehicle sales. Yet, you won’t find an SUV on the GGT list.
When we last updated this story in 2023, nearly 70 models qualified for the GGT; however, the number of qualifying cars is dwindling. Our quick review of the EPA’s 2025 Fuel Economy Guide found only 30 models spread among 13 car makers still shouldering the GGT.
If you visit the EPA Fuel Economy Guide and search for cars the government taxes as gas guzzlers, you may be puzzled to discover some models delivering less than 22.5 mpg aren’t taxed. For example, the Audi S8 (18 mpg), the Chevy Corvette (19 mpg), and the Nissan Z with a manual transmission (20 mpg) aren’t taxed. Why might that be?
Without wading too deep into the weeds, the EPA employs a more comprehensive set of tests when determining the mpg numbers it posts on the Monroney label than it does for identifying gas guzzlers. In fact, in 2008, the EPA added three additional test cycles, for a total of five, to calculate the combined mpg we find on a vehicle’s window sticker. Those extra cycles include:
- Faster speeds
- Air conditioner use
- Colder outside temperatures
The extra cycles reach a combined mpg more in line with what a driver will experience daily. When calculating combined mpg for assessing the GGT, the government uses a 2-cycle (city and highway) methodology for a pure average combined mpg.
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Examples of Cars With a Gas Guzzler Tax
Remember that the calculation procedures for both the GGT and label purposes differ. The mpg figures on the window sticker and in the Fuel Economy Guide account for “real world” driving. As such, the mileage figures for tax liability are higher than those on the window sticker and in the Fuel Economy Guide.
Only a handful of the cars assessed a GGT aren’t produced by luxury brands. Here are a few 2025 examples and their estimated gas guzzler tax arranged by EPA class size. The EPA determines size class according to passenger and cargo volumes.
Two-Seater Cars
- Chevrolet Corvette Z06: $3,000
- Mercedes-AMG GT 63: $2,600
Mini-compact Cars
- Porsche 911 Turbo: $1,000
- Mercedes-AMG SL 63: $1,300
Subcompact Cars
- Ford Mustang Dark Horse: $1,000
- BMW M8 Competition: $1,000
Midsize Cars
- Cadillac CT5-V: $2,100
- Audi RS 7: $1,300
Full-size Cars
- Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Maybach S 680: $2,100
- Rolls-Royce Ghost: $2,600
Our Take
A relic of the response to oil embargoes and gas shortages of the 1970s, the Gas Guzzler Tax was a somewhat mildly effective tool raised against fuel-slurping land yachts and high-horsepower performance cars. Although the goal was to discourage consumers from buying fuel-inefficient cars, in reality, it had little impact on purchase decisions. Had it been effective, the government would surely have expanded the GGT to, in some way, cover SUVs and pickups, too. What has been effective for reducing the number of gasoline-thirsty vehicle sales is government pressure on carmakers to meet ever-higher average mileage requirements. This has curbed V8 and higher cylinder-count engines from new car showrooms.
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