INDIANAPOLIS — This from fox59.com: Indiana Gov. Mike Braun said he is suspending the Indiana gas tax for 30 days amid rising gas prices.
“I’m taking action to provide relief on high gas prices,” Braun said.
Braun called the suspension a “30-day holiday” that goes into effect “as quickly as we can get it out there.”
Braun said the gas tax suspension will be re-examined at the end of the 30 days. But he said there are “no guarantees” the suspension will continue past 30 days.
At the start of April, the Indiana gas use tax jumped up several cents from 15.3 cents per gallon to 17.2 cents per gallon. But the Indiana gas tax is determined by a calculation that uses the average price of gasoline over a previous one-month period.
FOX59 previously warned Hoosiers to brace for a larger gas tax increase in May because the April gas tax uptick factored in an average range that still included rates under $3 per gallon. But since the U.S. and Israel’s Feb. 28 missile strike on Iran, the price of oil has only rocketed upward.
As of April 8, AAA reports Indiana’s average gas price as $4.13 per gallon. This is only a few cents below the national average of $4.16 per gallon.
Braun has previously left open the possibility of suspending the gas tax if prices continue to climb at the pump. In 2022, when gas prices climbed to record highs after Russia invaded Ukraine, Republican leaders in Indiana faced a similar situation but elected not to suspend the gas tax and, instead, capped the tax at $0.295 per gallon. |
