Kemp Extends Georgia's Gas Tax Holiday Through Thanksgiving, Keeping Pumps 63 Cents Below the Nation

Georgia drivers will keep paying no state gas tax through the end of November. Gov. Brian Kemp on Saturday extended the state of emergency that has suspended Georgia's motor fuel excise tax since Sept. 29, moving the end date from Nov. 5 to Nov. 30 so the break covers Thanksgiving travel.

"With a major holiday coming up and fuel prices still at high levels, I am proud to take this step to keep more money in Georgians' pockets," Kemp said in a statement from his office. He made the call with Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and House Speaker Jon Burns, both Republicans.

The tax being waived is 33.3 cents a gallon on gasoline and 37.3 cents on diesel. Local sales taxes on fuel, set by cities and counties, are still collected, FOX 5 Atlanta noted.

What it's doing at the pump

Regular gas in Georgia averaged $3.66 a gallon Saturday, about 63 cents below the national average, and diesel averaged $5.72, about 61 cents below, the governor's office said, citing AAA. Nationally, regular was running about $4.30 and diesel about $6.33, according to AAA figures cited by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Those Georgia prices have come down since the suspension started. On Sept. 28, the day Kemp first signed the order, regular averaged $4.19 in Georgia and diesel $6.24, his office said at the time. Gas is still well above where it was a year ago, when Georgia regular averaged about $2.80, the AJC reported.

Why prices are high

Fuel prices have climbed since the U.S. and Israel went to war with Iran and Tehran shut the Strait of Hormuz, the route for about a fifth of the world's oil exports, The Hill reported when the first suspension was signed. Kemp's orders cite "global market volatility" and petroleum supply disruptions.

Farmers were among the first to ask for help. When the suspension began, Agriculture Commissioner Tyler Harper said Georgia farmers were "facing diesel prices that have more than doubled in recent weeks."

The emergency orders do more than drop the tax. They also lift state weight limits on commercial trucks, which Kemp's office says cuts the shipping cost built into grocery prices, and the October extension let the Department of Revenue waive penalties for running off-road "dyed" diesel on public roads, according to the Department of Revenue.

Paid for by saving first

Giving up the tax is not cheap. The suspension could cost the state about $200 million a month, the AJC reported in September, a cost the paper said Kemp could cover from the state's surplus. Kemp made that point himself on Saturday. "Our commitment to fiscal responsibility and stewarding taxpayer dollars has allowed us to act when needed, whether by suspending the gas tax or returning billions to taxpayers through income tax refunds and property tax relief," he said, thanking lawmakers "for standing with us to budget conservatively for times such as these."

Kemp has used this tool before. Georgia lawmakers suspended the gas tax in March 2022 after Russia invaded Ukraine, and Kemp kept it off by executive order until Jan. 10, 2023, a break the Department of Revenue says saved Georgia drivers $1 billion in 2022 alone. He suspended it again from Sept. 13 to Nov. 29, 2023, as oil hit a 10-month high, and for two weeks in October 2024 after Hurricane Helene, state records show.

There is a built-in limit. Under Georgia law, the governor's emergency power to suspend a tax ends once the General Assembly meets, the Department of Revenue explains. Lawmakers return in January, so any break past that point would need their vote.

Ten days out

The extension landed on a big campaign day for Georgia Republicans. Kemp rallied in Canton with GOP governor nominee Rick Jackson, and that evening President Trump held a rally in Perry, where he announced Audi's first U.S. plant near Macon. We covered that here. Election Day is Nov. 3.

State officials have not said whether the suspension could be extended again into December.