Georgia’s Democratic gubernatorial nominee Keisha Lance Bottoms called on Gov. Brian Kemp (R-GA) to revive his earlier suspension of the state’s fuel excise tax to bring down the cost of diesel fuel.
Kemp had signed a 60-day suspension of the state’s fuel excise tax in March, then extended it to May, but afterward let it expire. The expiration of the tax suspension sent gas prices up by $0.33 per gallon and diesel prices up by $0.37 per gallon. Bottoms has been pushing for another suspension since but repeated her call in light of rising diesel costs.
“Georgia leaders should act now and suspend the tax on diesel fuel,” Bottoms wrote in a statement. “Prices are at a record high because of Donald Trump’s war in the Middle East and the people of Georgia are paying the costs.”
The average price of diesel in Georgia currently stands at over $6 per gallon, over $3 more than the year before.
Bottoms’s Republican rival, Rick Jackson, proposed instituting a mechanism that would suspend the gas tax if the average price per gallon rose by $0.35 in one week, or $0.75 within 30 days because of a war or natural disaster.
Georgia Democrats had previously accused Jackson of avoiding the topic of gas prices.
While Bottoms and Democrats have tried to pin the rise in diesel prices on Trump and the war with Iran, the president has tried to offset blame by pinning it on Ukraine and its strikes against Russian refineries.
Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, explained last week that each event stacked on top of the other to send diesel prices soaring. Right now, diesel is sitting at $6.51 per gallon, according to AAA.
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“Two things stacked,” he explained in a post on X. “Ukraine spent months tightening global supply even while prices held flat, so when Iran responded & shut the Strait there was no Middle East cushion left to absorb it. That combo broke it higher at the same time demand peaks- in the summer.
“The producer ban of diesel exports from Russia started I believe July 2026, which was an escalation from the trader export ban that started last year,” De Haan added. “Complete bans of diesel exports when Russia producers >10% of global diesel is quite substantial.”