Georgia Governor Suspends Fuel Tax for One Month

Motor fuel consumers in Georgia state can save up to 35 cents per gallon with the governor's imposition of a tax moratorium that took effect Wednesday.

Governor Brian P. Kemp on Tuesday declared a state of emergency "due to the 40-year-high inflation and negative economic conditions felt by hardworking Georgians as a result of policies coming out of Washington, D.C.", as stated in a press release accompanying the declaration. He suspended the excise tax on motor fuel as part of the declaration, which lasts till October 12 with a 30-day effectivity period.

While the annual all-items Consumer Price Index (CPI) consistently rose from May 2020 to June 2022, it consistently fell from mid-2022 up to June 2023. The 12-month percentage change was recorded at 9.1 percent June 2022 and three percent June 2023, before the rate recorded an increase for the first time in a year to 3.2 percent July 2023, according to data from the Labor Statistic Bureau.

The central bank has been raising interest rates in a bid to slow down money circulation and hold down inflation, with the latest adjustment, made last month, at 5.33 percent. President Joe Biden also passed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) August 16, 2022.

Kemp's office said in a press release about the tax suspension, "Consumers should expect the suspension to begin impacting prices after several days". For gasoline the suspension cuts 31.2 cents a gallon while for diesel consumers save 35 cents per gallon.

"When the gas tax was suspended from March through December of last year, 2022, Georgians saved roughly $1.7 billion at the pump", the office said.

The governor's executive order for the state of emergency noted, "The costs of everyday essentials, such as food, housing, and gasoline, have risen dramatically". A typical American household, including in Georgia, has been spending $202 more per month since July 2022 for these goods and services, it said.

It added, "The benchmark oil price is currently at a 10-month high, and the average price for a gallon of gasoline has risen more than thirty cents in Georgia over the past year".

Kemp blamed the Biden administration's restrictions on energy production, saying in a statement "all Bidenomics has done is take more money out of the pockets of the middle class".

While the IRA fasttracks or incentivizes the development of both fossil fuels and renewables in a bid to strike a balance between energy security and climate resilience, the Biden government has been accused of tightening bottlenecks in oil and gas production.

The Interior Department said last week it had canceled the remaining leases awarded by the Trump administration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge over legal shortcomings in environmental clearance. The decision means all nine leases issued under the Coastal Plain Leasing Program, covering over 430,000 acres, have now been canceled following a review ordered by the present administration.

The department's Ocean Energy Management Bureau has also withdrawn several blocks in the Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 261 to "protect sensitive benthic habitat in Garden Banks" and avoid potentially coming into conflict with the protected Rice's whale species, as well as protect sediment resources and reserve areas for wind energy development, according to the text of the sale decision released August 23. This action is now the subject of a case initiated by the industry lobby group American Petroleum Institute, Chevron USA Inc. and the state of Louisiana. The suit filed at a Louisiana district court August 29 seeks a preliminary injunction to prevent the auction from happening until restrictive changes are canceled.

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