February 25, 1919. Oregon becomes the first state to enact a gasoline tax.

The tax was .01 per gallon.

The average 1919 price per gallon was .25, but adjusted for inflation, that price would now be $3.42, so at least locally, the average price per gallon, in real terms, is lower now than it was in 1919.  For that matter, the position of the average American in the economy has been upward so that the average American has more disposable income in 2019 than he or she did in 1919.

At any rate, Oregon brought gasoline taxes into the national picture on this day, and its spread everywhere since then.  .01 doesn't sound like much, but in the context of 1919, it was a rational and not unsubstantial tax.