General Motors also reaped huge rewards, skirting 33.3 billion in taxes on their SUVs and light trucks. Among light trucks, Suv's would have incurred the greatest tax liability. In fact, the average gas-guzzler tax on eligible pickup trucks was close to twice as much as the average for SUVs in 1996. Recently, pickups have apparently been gutting more fuel-efficient, while many SUVs are getting less fuel efficient. Vans and minivans have been getting steadily more fuel efficient since the mid-1990s.
Automakers have an incentive to make their vehicles more fuel-efficient to avoid the tax.
Revenues from the gas-guzzler tax have been declining on passenger cars ever since 1992, because the tax successfully deterred manufacturers from producing inefficient passenger cars. Gas guzzlers are not taxed to raise revenues for the government, but to persuade automakers to address the serious environmental and energy problems posed by automobilies, namely air pollution and oil dependence. Despite years of improving air quality in many areas, air pollution continues to create serious environmental and health problems. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that more than 92 million Americans still breathe unhealthy air, especially in urban areas. Motor vehicles account for 20 percent of U.S. CO2 emissions, and transportation as a whole is the fastest growing sector for carbon dioxide emissions.