Georgia on Friday became the first state to suspend fuel taxes after the war in the Middle East sent pump prices higher, Gov. Brian Kemp signed a law ordering a 60-day halt to the state’s gasoline and diesel levies. The changes put Georgia’s 33-cents-per-gallon gas tax and 37-cents-per-gallon diesel tax on pause, and state officials said motorists should see the cost reductions as lower prices move from wholesalers to retail stations.
Georgia’s tax suspension is designed as short-term relief, but it comes with a budget tradeoff that the state plans to cover using accumulated savings earmarked for roads and bridges. Officials estimated the state would give up between $360 million and $400 million in fuel-tax revenue over the period, a gap they said would translate into roughly $5 to $6 per tank for a typical passenger vehicle.
Supporters said the tax cuts will return money to drivers, and Kemp said he wanted to “return taxpayer money where it belongs, in the pockets of hardworking Georgians.” The tax break also sits alongside an election-year package that includes state income tax rebates of $250 to $500 per household for people who filed Georgia tax returns in both 2024 and 2025, with the rebates funded from state savings.
As households weigh whether the state relief is meaningful enough, some drivers said the problem is tied to foreign conflict and that any pause in taxes may not address the underlying driver of prices. “It’s really nothing I can do about it,” said Skylah Mercier, a 21-year-old college student filling her tank near downtown Atlanta. Terrence Wynn, also filling his tank Friday in Atlanta, said the “root” of the problem is the foreign conflict and that gas is “a necessity” people will “have to pay for anyway.”
The Georgia action reflects a broader squeeze that shows up in national pricing trends. AAA said the average gas price nationwide rose from $2.93 a gallon on Feb. 20 to $3.91 a gallon by Friday, a shift that Georgia officials pointed to as reason for using state savings to reduce near-term costs.
But Georgia’s move did not immediately signal a rapid domino effect among other states, in part because state budgets are not as flush as they were immediately after the pandemic, when federal aid and tax revenues were higher. In 2022, other states joined Georgia in granting gas relief as prices spiked, including Connecticut, Florida, Maryland and New York, while Illinois and Kentucky delayed scheduled fuel-tax increases. In this latest round, the approach appears more mixed.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Thursday he has no plans to suspend Florida’s 23.5-cent gas tax, adding there is no “simple fix.” Speaking in Bradenton, Florida, DeSantis said, “My answer is just get the cost down internationally, and that means having stable energy markets, making sure we’re doing everything to get our stuff to market,” and he said he did not know there was “going to be any simple fix.”
Maryland, meanwhile, faced criticism over a proposal for a 30-day holiday. Republicans have pushed for the suspension, but Democratic Gov. Wes Moore’s administration rejected it, with Ammar Moussa, the governor’s spokesman, saying Maryland Democrats needed “real relief” rather than a 30-day suspension that would “blow a $100 million hole in our transportation budget while we’re working to close Maryland’s budget shortfall.” Moussa said if Maryland Republicans were serious about lowering costs, they should contact Donald Trump to end what he described as a “missionless war,” rather than seek relief for state taxpayers by pausing the gas tax.
In Connecticut, Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont proposed a gas tax holiday earlier this month, but the idea has not advanced, according to the report. Georgia Republicans, Kemp included, have said they are focused on affordability and have sought to counter Democratic efforts to connect the tax relief push to the Middle East conflict.
Kemp told reporters that the policy direction was not a last-minute response, saying, “This isn’t an issue that we just discovered. It’s one we’ve been taking action on for years, in a strategic and carefully planned way, to help hardworking Georgians.”