Gas tops $4 in Texas as bipartisan group of lawmakers back tax pause to cut prices

AUSTIN, Texas — With the average price of a gallon of gas in Texas topping $4, some leaders from Austin to Washington, D.C., are backing a temporary pause on gas taxes as a way to deliver relief.

Veronica Valdez Rodriguez was pumping gas at a southeast Austin station on Tuesday. She said the rising costs are becoming unmanageable.

“They’re sky high,” Rodriguez said. “I can barely get by, you know? It’s too expensive.”

She said she is spending $40 more every week on gas.

According to AAA Texas, the average cost of a regular gallon of fuel stood at over $4.01 in the Austin area on Tuesday, $1.24 higher than the average one year ago.

President Donald Trump said he is working to pause the federal gas tax, which is 18 cents per gallon.

A reporter asked the president on Monday how long the tax would be suspended.

“Until it’s appropriate. It’s a small percentage, but it’s, you know, it’s still money,” Trump said.

ALSO| Austin reaches $35 million settlement with men exonerated in 1991 Yogurt Shop Murders

KEYE

In Texas, an 18-cent-per-gallon pause could add up to savings of about $2 to $3 on an average tank of gas.

Support for a federal pause is coming from both parties. State Rep. and U.S. Senate nominee James Talarico (D-Austin) backed the idea last month.

“Lowering prices at the pump should be a bipartisan commitment,” Talarico said in a statement Monday.

Republican U.S. Sen. John Cornyn said he didn’t know the details of the president’s plan.

“There’s a difference between a temporary suspension and a permanent suspension,” Cornyn said Monday. “I don’t know exactly what the President has in mind. I think a temporary suspension getting through this sort of bumpy time because of uncertainty about energy prices, I can live with that.”

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Gina Hinojosa is calling for a state gas tax pause as well. The state tax currently sits at 20 cents per gallon, according to the Texas Department of Transportation.

The state pause is also being urged by Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller, who has called on Governor Greg Abbott to act.

“Governors in Indiana, Georgia, and Utah have already stepped up to provide relief for their citizens, and I once again renew my call for Governor Abbott to follow the lead of President Trump and act decisively for Texas families,” Miller wrote on Monday.

The governor’s office, however, said a state gas tax pause is not an option under his executive authority.

In a statement, the governor’s press secretary, Andrew Mahaleris, wrote in response to Miller:

There’s a reason Sid Miller lost his election, it’s because he doesn’t shoot straight with Texans. Any suggestion that the Texas governor is authorized by law to suspend a gas tax is entirely uninformed or purposefully misleading. If the Texas governor could suspend taxes, he would have suspended the property tax years ago.

At the federal level, the Bipartisan Policy Center said a gas tax holiday would require an act of Congress. The group also estimated that a five-month pause could cost as much as $17 billion.

Some drivers, like Rodriguez, said any break would help.

“Pause the taxes!” she said.