Brian Kemp suspends Georgia’s gas tax as Iran war squeezes drivers

Gov. Brian Kemp on Monday suspended Georgia’s motor fuel tax for 30 days as the war with Iran sends gas prices soaring and voters press leaders to ease the strain on household budgets ahead of the November elections.

The governor’s order begins at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday and suspends the state’s 33-cent-per-gallon tax on gasoline and roughly 37-cent-per-gallon levy on diesel. The break is expected to cost the state about $200 million a month, which Kemp is likely to offset by dipping deeper into Georgia’s surplus.

“Over the past several years, with the help of our partners in the General Assembly, we’ve been able to give billions of dollars in relief to hardworking Georgians,” Kemp said in a news release. “We’ve remained committed to helping them and our small businesses fight through the tough times, and that’s why I’m taking this action today to give further relief.”

The gas tax pays for road maintenance and construction. Kemp has repeatedly turned to gas-tax suspensions to cushion Georgians from rising fuel costs. His longest suspension stretched from March 2022 into January 2023. He revived the break amid inflation concerns in 2023 and again after Hurricane Helene in 2024.

Kemp signed a bipartisan measure in March that made Georgia the first state to suspend the gas tax after the joint U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran. He extended the relief through Memorial Day before reinstating the tax in early June.

That decision opened a rift in the race to succeed him. Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms pressed Kemp to continue the suspension, arguing that Georgians “can’t afford a hike in fuel costs.” Republican nominee Rick Jackson backed Kemp’s decision.

The U.S. war against Iran has left the Strait of Hormuz in a monthslong stalemate that has tightened fuel supply, spreading higher costs across the economy.

Motorists could begin seeing lower prices at the pump over the next few days. But the earlier efforts showed the limits of that relief. Though the gas tax suspension saved drivers money, it couldn’t halt the rise in prices amid the war.