DFL proposes gas tax holiday while simultaneously trying to raise gas prices with CA Fuel Standard

According to Morning Take, several DFL representatives, including Zach Stephenson, Kaela Berg, Dave Lislegaard, Jessica Hanson, and Dan Wolgamott, will propose a gas tax holiday between Memorial Day and Labor Day using the budget surplus to pay for the cost of the $200 million holiday.

Tax cuts of any kind are sorely needed in Minnesota. However, Minnesotans who are worried about high gas prices should know that Governor Walz and other DFL legislators, including Representative Stephenson, are attempting to enact California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard in Minnesota, which will increase the cost of gasoline between 20 cents and 54 cents per gallon, according to Stillwater Associates.

The California fuel standard (CFS) would force the average Minnesota family to pay an additional $210 to $570 for gasoline every year. The cost of the CFS dwarfs the expected $73 savings that Minnesotans could expect to reap from a three-month gas tax holiday.

Despite the high cost of the California fuel standard, not a single penny will be used for our roads and bridges. Instead, the additional money will be used to subsidize electric vehicles (EVs), EV charging stations, and other substitutes for gasoline and diesel fuel.

Adding insult to injury, the California fuels standard will likely mean that gas taxes will have to be even higher in the future to make up for the fact that subsidized electric vehicles will reduce the sales of gasoline and diesel fuel, thus reducing gas tax revenue.

Representative Stephenson appears rightly alarmed about the high cost of gasoline, but enacting a policy that will make gasoline even more expensive and require higher gas taxes in the future is the absolute wrong way to keep prices affordable for Minnesota families and businesses.