FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — President Biden called on Congress to suspend gas and diesel taxes for three months to help ease financial burdens.
AAA says the average gas price in Arkansas right now is $4.49 and $4.63 in Oklahoma. Nationwide, it’s nearly five dollars.
State taxes run an average of 30 cents on the gallon. President Biden is now calling on states to suspend their gas taxes or provide similar support.
“By suspending the 18 cents tax, federal gas tax… for the next 90 days we can bring down the price of gas and give families just a little bit of relief," President Biden said.
The gas tax holiday implies the federal tax on regular gas would be 18.4 cents per gallon and 24.4 cents per gallon on diesel fuel. If you fill up once a week and you own a 13-gallon tank, in a three-month period, you will save around $31 over the course of the proposed relief period.
Filling up a 20-gallon tank would save you around $48 and if you have a big truck with a 30-gallon tank you could save around $72. Diesel users would save more because of the higher federal tax.
Kyrene Thomas is a stay-at-home mom, and her husband owns an outdoor company in Fort Smith that requires driving trucks.
“He has three trucks that he’s responsible for keeping gas in and they pull trailers a lot too with a lot of heavy equipment, which takes a lot more gas so yeah, gas prices are killer for him right now," Thomas said.
Kyrene's husband commutes from Fayetteville to Fort Smith Monday through Friday and fills up three times a week.
“Right now, he’s spending anywhere between $900 to $1,000 a week between the three trucks he has to fill up. It’s a lot so anywhere we can save we will save,” Thomas said.
Kyrene and her husband say gas is their largest expense right now which is why they are moving to Fort Smith in a few months.
“It’s just a lot of mileage, a lot of gas, so hopefully we’ll save a lot of money once we make the move,” she said.
The U.S. Secretary of Energy is meeting with top oil company CEOs to urge them to boost domestic production.
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