In California, most of the gas tax does go to roads. The issue is that general fund money that used to go to roads is now going elsewhere so the net funding is not going up. In fact it's going down as vehicles become more fuel efficient and use less fuel. And electric-only vehicles pay no fuel taxes at all.
Part of the problem with the gas tax is that is so regressive. The people buying the newest cars pay the least. The people driving the older cars pay the most.
What about bicycles, they use no fuel other than the water and food going into the operator AND they get special lanes! What about pedestrians? They use the sidewalks all day long that are being built with the same money as the roads in many cases. Roller skates? Skate boards? Pogo sticks? Do I need to mention Segways?
The humanity!
The oil lobby in California just got the gas tax increase squashed. They were very worried because the proposal originally had bi-partisan support, something that very rarely happens in California. They got to some of their Republican friends, probably with big campaign contributions.
The gas tax would have been raised to account for inflation and reduced usage, to provide the same level of funding as in the past.
The oil lobby hates gas taxes. Not because they reduce consumption, they don't, but because the retail price of gasoline never goes up as much as the gas tax so the oil company's margins fall.
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