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Minnesotans paying more at the pump as Congress considers gas tax holiday
High gas prices this summer have drivers feeling the pain each time they pull up to the pump, but would a gas tax holiday approval by Congress help?
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - High gas prices this summer have drivers feeling the pain each time they pull up to the pump, as record prices squeeze their wallets.
"Probably at least 15 more dollars per fill up," driver Molly Forrest told FOX 9. "It’s concerning that’s for sure."
At the White House on Wednesday, President Joe Biden moved to offer some relief, calling on Congress to suspend the federal gas tax for three months. That move would save Americans 18.3 cents per gallon of gas, and 24.3 cents per gallon of diesel.
"There were times when it would climb 20 cents overnight, so if that happens it wipes out that 18 cents real quick," St. Anthony Village’s Murphy’s Service Center owner Chuck Graff told FOX 9.
The other trouble is there’s nothing to stop gas station owners from simply keeping the profit for themselves. But Graff says if a gas tax holiday is approved by Congress, he would let his customers keep the extra savings.
"I’d do it, [because] I’d look like a bad guy if I didn’t and I’d like to think that I’m a good guy," Graff said.
Still, he could see some of his colleagues being less generous, "18 cents a gallon adds up on some of these high-volume stations," Graff explained.
A federal gas tax holiday also means less money going back to our country’s budget for road and bridge maintenance.
"It could affect infrastructure projects too, so we’re going to have to pay for it somehow," Forrest said.