The Treasury Department issued its monthly report on Highway Trust Fund revenues this week, covering June 2020. Net tax deposits into the Trust Fund were down 41 percent in June 2020 versus June 2019, which (finally) tracks with refinery production of gasoline dropping by about 40 percent at the peak of coronavirus-related travel demand reduction.

There is a time lag of several weeks between the day on which a motorist or trucker changes his/her fuel purchasing habits and the time that those decisions are felt “upstream” at the refinery or blending facility, where taxation usually takes place.

Net tax receipts credited to the Trust Fund in the month of June, which represent estimated taxes paid from mid-May to mid-June (after transfers to other funds and adjustments to previous estimated taxes) totaled $1.9 billion for the Highway Account and $270 million for the Mass Transit Account. These are down just over 40 percent from the June 2019 totals (which were $3.2 billion for the Highway Account and $468 million for the Mass Transit Account, respectively.

The June numbers are well above the net May numbers, but the May numbers had a much larger than normal after-the-fact adjustment to the estimated taxes credited to the Trust Fund in the October-December period.

After adjustments, total Highway Trust Fund tax receipts for fiscal year 2020 to date are down by $4.2 billion (14 percent) below the receipts in the same period of fiscal year 2019.