Tennessee GOP senator seeks one-month gas tax break

A Tennessee Republican lawmaker is asking the governor to cut motorists some slack at the pump by calling for a one-month break on the state’s gas tax.

Sen. Tom Hatcher of Maryville sent a letter to Gov. Bill Lee requesting he suspend Tennessee’s 27.4-cent gas tax during November, with the average price of regular gas at about $3.90 per gallon in Tennessee.

“I believe the extraordinary circumstances facing Tennessee motorists warrant consideration of a temporary measure,” Hatcher said in an Oct. 7 letter to the governor.

The governor and lawmakers are likely leery about giving up a revenue stream as Tennessee struggles with a backlog of $58 billion to $87 billion in road and bridge construction projects over the next three decades and needs $3.6 billion annually to maintain and improve roads. But Hatcher said in his letter that he is seeking only a one-month suspension, which would allow for “minimal impact” on gas tax revenue, which “supports important transportation priorities” statewide. 

Hatcher told the Lookout the break would match the governor’s action on dyed diesel fuel, which is allowing farmers and loggers to use the cheaper, tax-exempt form of diesel normally allowed for off-road equipment on public roads during October’s harvest season and avoid record-high costs of more than $6 per gallon for regular diesel fuel. The diesel is dyed red to differentiate it from regular diesel for tax identification purposes.

The requested gas tax cut would take effect Nov. 1 and last 30 days, according to Hatcher.

“We’re allowing the farmers to use the different diesel that’s cheaper for them, and they need the help,” Hatcher said. “But also regular citizens need some help, and that would be right before Christmas time … and, hopefully, help them some also.”

Republican lawmakers asked Lee to allow the use of untaxed dyed diesel fuel on roads through Nov. 15, but he declined to extend the waiver past October. The ability to use dyed diesel for a full tank would save about $102 when filling up a 200-gallon semi truck tank.

House Democrats were rebuffed earlier this year when they urged the governor to put funds for a gas and diesel tax holiday in his budget. It’s unclear whether a Republican lawmaker will be heard. The governor’s office didn’t respond Tuesday to questions from the Lookout.

Lawmakers passed the IMPROVE Act in 2017, raising the gas tax by six cents and diesel by 10 cents over three years, a move designed to bring in hundreds of millions of dollars for road and bridge construction projects and put a dent in a $10 billion backlog. Simultaneously, the state decreased sales taxes on groceries to 4% as a way to ease the pain at the pump.

Despite that offset, the gas tax increase of nearly a decade ago has haunted lawmakers who supported it, costing Republican Rep. Barry Doss his seat in the following election and hurting veteran Republican Rep. Dennis Powers at the polls when he lost in this year’s primary.