Amid a rapid rise in state gas prices caused by the war in Iran, a Democratic gubernatorial candidate is calling for a temporary suspension of the gas tax. A Republican Senate budget chair says it’s not off the table.
But whether it would be effective or possibly counterproductive is less certain.
Former U.S. Sen. Doug Jones, seeking the Democratic nomination for governor, last week called on the Legislature and Gov. Kay Ivey to suspend the tax for 60 to 90 days to provide temporary relief for Alabamians.
According to AAA Gas Prices, the average price per gallon of regular gas in Alabama is $3.63 per gallon, an increase of $0.99 (about 38%) in the last month since the United States and Israel launched strikes in Iran.
“People didn’t ask for this. They didn’t ask for the war. They certainly didn’t ask for all of a sudden, within 30 days, to pay $1 or more a gallon,” Jones said in an interview Wednesday. “People need time to adjust their schedules. They need time to make sure that they can get on the streets and do things, knowing that they’re going to spend a lot more.”
Diesel fuel prices have climbed even higher. AAA says the price of diesel in the state is $5.19 per gallon, an increase of $1.74 per gallon in Alabama in the last month. The national average for regular gas is $3.98 per gallon, according to AAA, and $5.37 per gallon for diesel.
According to the Alabama Department of Revenue, the state tax on gasoline is $0.30 per gallon for regular gasoline and $0.31 per gallon for diesel fuel.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, suspended the state’s $0.33 regular gas and $0.37 diesel fuel tax last week. A message seeking comment from Ivey was left Thursday afternoon.
Jones estimated that suspending Alabama’s gas tax for 60 days would save Alabamians more than $100 million. But, Sen. Greg Albritton, R-Atmore, the chair of the Senate Finance and Taxation General Fund committee, said in an interview Thursday that doing so would also prevent that money from funding all road and bridge projects throughout the state.
“There’s always trade-offs and difficulties wherever you try to maneuver these things around. And there’s always a cost of things too, and we tend to forget about that,” Albritton said.
Albritton said that suspending the gas tax and losing more than $100 million in state revenue would also mean losing more than double that in matched federal dollars.
According to the Legislative Services Agency’s (LSA) Tax Guide, the state’s tax on gas generated $724.48 million in fiscal year 2025 after deductions from the Department of Revenue for administrative costs and refunds.
Despite the potential loss of revenue and paused construction projects, Albritton said he would be open to suspending the tax temporarily.
“I wouldn’t suggest it’s completely off the table; anything like that in an election year has some viability, but whether it has some practicality to it, that’s the question,” Albritton said.
Jones said that the construction projects and road improvement will not matter if Alabamians cannot afford gas to drive on the roads.
“It’s not going to impact that much on a road project. It will have a little bit of a setback, but hell, if people can’t drive on the roads because they can’t afford them, who cares?” Jones said. “This is not a permanent repeal of the gas tax, not calling for that at all. But I do think right now, it is more important to get relief to Alabama families than to just put money in a road project that can be delayed for just a little bit of time if it hadn’t been done before.”
Albritton said that the consumer will have to bear the cost eventually, whether it is now at the gas pump or later on the wear and tear on their car.
“It’s coming out of the same pocket one way or the other. It’s just that most people would prefer to have good, safe roads with their gasoline than no gasoline and no roads,” he said.
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