Virginia Republicans said Friday President Donald Trump’s war with Iran is worth the increase in gas prices. To help offset that impact from that war they’re proposing a suspension of the state’s gas tax.
“Stopping Iran from getting nuclear capabilities? Yes. Do I think it's worth taking them off the map as a sponsor of terrorism? Yes," said Virginia Republican House Minority Leader Terry Kilgore when asked if the war Trump started was worth the steep increase in gas at the pump.
While other Republican elected officials said international conflicts are outside their state legislative purview, they believed, like White House officials have suggested, the short-term pain is worth the long-term gain.
“We know this is going to be very temporary,” the Gate City republican said.
The solution to the problem, they contend, is a suspension of the gas tax. The state’s share is about 32 cents per gallon and the money funds road improvements. Hanover County Republican Del. Scott Wyatt said the state’s rainy-day fund could cover the hundreds of millions of dollars it would cost the Commonwealth.
“Until they get the Straight open, we know it's gonna be temporary until it's opened," Wyatt said, referencing Iran's closure of the Straight of Hormuz in the wake of Trump's attacks on the region. "It may be 30 days, it may be 60 days, but the revenues are there.”
Back when gas prices spiked in 2022, Virginia Republicans also suggested a cut to the gas tax.
At the time Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin told WRIC television he wasn’t a fan of the idea, suggesting it was government intervention into private markets. Youngkin later backed the effort, but it was killed by a bipartisan vote in the Senate. Among those against the effort was former Senator Chap Peterson, a Fairfax City official who said the $50 proposed rebate quote “didn’t make a difference.”
And while a short-term price reduction sounds nice, Megan Davis with the left-leaning Commonwealth Institute said tax holidays don’t usually benefit those who need it most.
“Over half of the benefit would not have flown to Virginia families but instead to the oil industry and out-of-state consumers,” Davis told Radio IQ.
Governor Abigail Spanberger, meanwhile, again placed the blame for rising gas prices on Trump’s war, saying in a statement she is, “working to create long-term solutions to address rising costs.”
