What is excise tax and where does it go? Several audience members inspired this question.

Stacy Engle is a spokesperson for the Internal Revenue Service. She said excise tax is placed on specific goods and services.

“Federal excise tax is generally imposed on the sale of things like fuel, airline tickets, heavy trucks, highway tractors, tanning, tires, tobacco and certain other goods and services,” Engle said.

She said most excise tax paid by consumers goes toward funding projects the tax is for, such as highway or airport improvements.

“So where most of the excise tax actually goes is to a trust fund for projects related to whatever the tax project is,” she said. “So if it’s a highway tax, then generally that fund goes to highway improvements and airport improvements, things like that.”

READ MORE: Federal program helps low-, moderate-income Hoosiers with tax preparation

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Engle said with excise tax, a lot of retailers and merchants can pass these cost burdens onto consumers.

“So it’s sometimes a fee that the consumer pays a higher price for in order to help the retailer or the manufacturer actually cover those excise taxes,” she said.

Engle encouraged those looking for more information on this topic to visit the IRS website.

Violet is our daily news reporter. Contact her at vcomberwilen@wfyi.org or follow her on Twitter at @ComberWilen.