by Rebecca Grapevine | Jul 1, 2022 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Gov. Brian Kemp on Friday extended Georgia’s gas tax holiday through Aug. 13.
The General Assembly suspended the fuel tax in March as inflation began raising pump prices above $4 a gallon. Kemp extended that break in May and again on Friday.
The state gas tax is around 29 cents per gallon.
Kemp also suspended the state sales tax on locomotive fuel, which he said would help fight rising consumer costs.
“I am committed to fighting to ease the economic burden hardworking Georgians are facing due to disastrous policies from Washington politicians,” Kemp said.
Kemp said President Joe Biden’s administration had not done enough to combat inflation and rising fuel prices.
In June, Biden called on Congress to suspend the federal gas tax (18 cents per gallon) until the end of September.
Biden has also ordered releases of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the nation’s emergency oil stockpile.
Georgia’s gas prices are about 50 cents below the national average, according to AAA.
On Friday, Kemp also extended an April executive order declaring a state of emergency in Georgia due related to supply chain disruptions. The order prohibits price gouging by gas station operators and relaxes some rules on commercial trucking in Georgia.
Kemp extended that executive order until August 13.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
