NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A Republican state senator wants Gov. Bill Lee to give Tennessee drivers a month off from the state gas tax.
Sen. Tom Hatcher of Maryville sent the governor a letter asking him to suspend Tennessee’s 27.4-cent-per-gallon gas tax during November. The break would start Nov. 1 and run 30 days. His Oct. 7 letter argues that extraordinary circumstances facing motorists justify a temporary measure, and that limiting it to one month would have minimal impact on revenue that supports transportation priorities statewide.
Prices have been stubborn. AAA’s weekly survey has the statewide average for regular gas holding at $3.93 a gallon, a penny more than a month ago, though Tennessee still ranks as the seventh least expensive gas market in the nation.
The request mirrors relief Lee has already granted farmers. The governor is letting farmers and loggers run cheaper, tax-exempt dyed diesel on public roads during the October harvest, as regular diesel tops $6 a gallon. Republican lawmakers asked him to extend that waiver through Nov. 15, but he declined to go past October. Using dyed diesel saves about $102 when filling a 200-gallon semi tank.
A gas tax holiday would cut into money the state counts on for roads. Tennessee faces a backlog of $58 billion to $87 billion in road and bridge projects over the next three decades and needs $3.6 billion a year to maintain and improve its roads. House Democrats urged a gas and diesel tax holiday earlier this year without success, and the governor’s office did not immediately respond to questions about Hatcher’s request.
The gas tax remains a sensitive subject at the Capitol. The 2017 IMPROVE Act raised the gas tax by six cents and the diesel tax by 10 cents over three years to pay for road work, while cutting the state sales tax on groceries to 4%.
