As communities struggle to generate revenue there is powerful often overlooked source, which is the Excise Tax placed on autos & trucks. There is a major misconception that the excise tax is collected by the local towns and cities where the vehicles are registered with the revenue going to maintain and repair the roads. This is far from the truth as the revenue goes into a general fund with no restrictions.

In this article we collected the data of the excise tax collected from 2010 - 2022 by the Town of Marblehead, MA. It is obvious the excise tax represents a huge source of revenue for the town to have in their “SLUSH” fund.