Pain at the pump: Some lawmakers push for gas tax holiday amid high prices

Some lawmakers are proposing a gas tax holiday

As of Mar. 30, a gallon of gas is at least $1 more expensive than they were before the ongoing Iran war began, and with no end in sight, some lawmakers are pushing for a suspension of the gas tax. FOX 10's Ashlie Rodriguez has more.

PHOENIX - As of March 30, the prices of gas and diesel are both at least $1 or higher since the war in Iran ignited in late February.

With no end in sight, lawmakers are pushing to suspend federal and state gas taxes.

By the numbers:

According to AAA figures on Monday, the average price for a gallon of regular gasoline in Arizona is $4.677. In Phoenix proper, the average rises to $4.992 for a gallon of regular.

At one gas station in Glendale, a gallon of regular was being sold for $5.15 on credit.

"This is outrageous, it’s outrageous," one driver said.

Big picture view:

Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly is co-sponsoring a bill called the Gas Prices Relief Act of 2026. The bill would suspend the federal gas tax, saving drivers about 18 cents per gallon federally through Oct. 1.

To get it passed, however, Sen. Kelly needs the Republican majority in the House and Senate to vote for it, and that depends on President Donald Trump.

"The gas tax, it’s something we have in our pocket if we think it’s necessary," Trump said.

Kelly wrote, in part, that "gas prices are skyrocketing because Donald Trump started a war with Iran."

"Arizona families shouldn’t pay the price for Donald Trump’s bad decisions. Suspending the federal gas tax would help bring prices down and give families some much-needed relief," Sen. Kelly wrote.

Republican state lawmakers in Arizona, meanwhile, had their own bill named HB 2400, which would cut another 18 cents in taxes. A "strike-everything" amendment, or an amendment that essentially deletes the entire text of the bill and replace it with new language that makes it a completely different bill, has been proposed.

The strike-everything amendment, as proposed, would require the state's environmental quality department director to work with the state's weights and measures officials to submit a fuel formulation waiver request for certain parts of Arizona, as described by existing law, to the EPA.

Why you should care:

Arizona drivers could save as much as 36 cents a gallon if lawmakers suspend state and federal gas taxes.

The other side:

The proposed gas tax suspensions do not extend to diesel, which has spiked higher than most drivers have ever seen.

Diesel went from just over $3 a gallon to over $5. Not only can the wages of truck drivers not keep up, but everything that moves—the entire supply chain—gets more expensive.

"Where normally it would be $300 to $400 to fill up, it’s $700 today. And once we get to California, it will probably be closer to $900 or $1,000," a truck driver said.

What's next:

The Arizona bill goes into committee on March 31.