{"id":28,"date":"2026-05-20T11:37:34","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T11:37:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=28"},"modified":"2026-05-20T11:37:34","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T11:37:34","slug":"why-a-federal-gas-tax-holiday-is-a-terrible-idea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=28","title":{"rendered":"Why a Federal Gas Tax Holiday Is a Terrible Idea"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"In<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

This story was originally published by\u00a0<\/em>WIRED\u00a0and\u00a0is reproduced here as part of the\u00a0<\/em>Climate Desk\u00a0collaboration.<\/em><\/p>

Read more Far From DC, an Iconic trail Is Militarized for Trump\u2019s Border Wall<\/a><\/p>\n

As gas prices<\/span>\u00a0stay stubbornly high across the country, President Donald Trump mused last week about suspending the fuel tax US consumers pay. The idea is also picking up steam in Congress, with Democratic and Republican lawmakers pushing for a gas tax holiday.<\/p>\n

But experts tell WIRED<\/em> that it\u2019s unlikely that any rollback\u2014even temporary\u2014of the fee will save consumers much as the unofficial start to summer travel season nears. \u201cIt\u2019s unlikely that oil prices, gasoline prices, diesel prices are going to fall back to where they were in February any time in the next couple months,\u201d says Clark Williams-Derry, an analyst at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis.<\/p>\n

The Strait of Hormuz, one of the world\u2019s most crucial shipping routes and a chokepoint for both oil and gas supply and production, has\u00a0remained effectively closed\u00a0since early March, when the US and Israel first launched strikes against Iran.<\/p>\n

The average price of gasoline across the country was $4.53 per gallon as of Thursday, up from $4.12 a month ago, and $3.18 last year,\u00a0according to AAA. That includes the federal gas tax, which is a little over 18 cents a gallon. Trump can\u2019t suspend the gas tax on his own\u2014it would take an act of Congress. (Taylor Rogers, a White House spokesperson, noted the 18-cent savings in WIRED<\/em>\u2018s request for comment, and added that this move \u201cwould be a temporary measure.\u201d) <\/p>\n

The tax, which was created in 1932, has never been suspended. But politicians from both sides of the aisle have put forward a variety of bills this year that would temporarily lift the federal tax.<\/p>\n

Even if the tax is suspended for the summer, drivers wouldn\u2019t necessarily see much in the way of savings. Prices at the pump are decided by a number of different factors, from refining costs to the costs to operate gas stations. The price of oil has also fluctuated wildly, with Brent crude\u2014a key benchmark\u2014rising to an all-time high of $144 per barrel on the night of April 7, when Trump and the Iranian government brokered a 2-week ceasefire. It currently sits around $105 a barrel, still much higher than the\u00a0average\u00a0of $69 in 2025.<\/p>

Read more Trump Thought He\u2019d Escaped the Abortion Trap<\/a><\/p>\n

And inflation driven by high fuel prices and a shortage in commodities that rely on oil as a key input, like\u00a0fertilizer, around the world is also making life more expensive for Americans. In April, the consumer price index\u2014used to measure inflation\u2014was\u00a0up 3.8 percent\u00a0year over year. With the costs of everything from food and rent to airfare ticking up, an 18-cent savings doesn\u2019t add up to much over the long run.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you take away the retail gas tax, it\u2019s not going to have a dramatic effect [for consumers],\u201d says Tyson Slocum, the director of the energy program at the progressive think tank Public Citizen. \u201cBut what\u00a0would<\/em>\u00a0be dramatic is the loss in federal revenues.\u201d<\/p>\n

The federal gas tax funds the Highway Trust Fund, which was formed to\u00a0support\u00a0highway maintenance and mass transit projects. That fund was already facing\u00a0severe insolvency\u00a0issues even before proposals to lift the federal gas tax. Williams-Derry points out that many of the roads in the US are \u201cliterally crumbling:\u201d Nearly 40 percent of the country\u2019s highways and roadways are in need of repair, a 2025 survey\u00a0found. The already low taxes are a big driver of poor infrastructure, he says.<\/p>\n

Cutting off revenue, even temporarily, would only exacerbate the problem. There\u2019s also a possibility that a temporary break could be extended indefinitely, given the political risks of reinstating it, particularly as midterms near. \u201cThe loss of federal revenues available to ensure that our transportation infrastructure remains sound, it\u2019s just not a good deal for consumers,\u201d Slocum says.<\/p>\n

Closing the Strait of Hormuz has suddenly cut off a massive amount of global oil supply from the market, in what is widely agreed upon to be one of the worst energy crises in history. Even if the Strait of Hormuz immediately opens up tomorrow, the effects of the new supply could take a while to reach consumers\u2014likely a month or more as tankers travel to customers and production facilities start back up again.<\/p>\n

\u201cAn oil tanker moves as fast as a bicycle,\u201d says Williams-Derry. \u201cIt\u2019s a significant trip.\u201d<\/p>

Read more Smuggled in Syringes: Inside Nairobi\u2019s Black Market in Giant Harvester Ants<\/a><\/p>\n<\/article>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It will do little to tame high prices\u2014and a lot to cripple the government\u2019s ability to maintain roadways.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-environment"],"yoast_head":"\nWhy a Federal Gas Tax Holiday Is a Terrible Idea - Moving and Mortgage Hub<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=28\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why a Federal Gas Tax Holiday Is a Terrible Idea - Moving and Mortgage Hub\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It will do little to tame high prices\u2014and a lot to cripple the government\u2019s ability to maintain roadways.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=28\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Moving and Mortgage Hub\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-20T11:37:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/3453ff5bb9ce638b30095f983b481f24.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/?p=28#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/?p=28\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6b7c79bcfd888d98f34c5413df7e81a2\"},\"headline\":\"Why a Federal Gas Tax Holiday Is a Terrible Idea\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-20T11:37:34+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/?p=28\"},\"wordCount\":783,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/?p=28#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/3453ff5bb9ce638b30095f983b481f24.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Environment\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/?p=28#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/?p=28\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/?p=28\",\"name\":\"Why a Federal Gas Tax Holiday Is a Terrible Idea - 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