Rogers calls for suspension of federal, Michigan gas taxes

Mike Rogers urges gas-tax pause as Michigan fuel costs climb

Provpnadvice.com – Michigan Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers is calling for a temporary suspension of state and federal gasoline taxes, arguing that drivers need immediate relief as prices at service stations remain high.

Rogers, a former congressman running to replace retiring Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), directed much of his criticism at Michigan’s Democratic-led state government. He said the state’s tax burden on gasoline has risen sharply and is making everyday expenses harder for working households.

“That’s unconscionable. Abdul and the Democrats already gave us the highest utility rates in the midwest with their failed energy policies,” Rogers said in a statement.

The comment referred to Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic candidate facing Rogers in the Senate race. Rogers argued that elected officials should focus on reducing energy-related costs rather than increasing them.

“Working families need leaders who will bring the costs of energy down, not ones who will make their lives less affordable,” Rogers added. “That’s why I’m calling for a suspension of both the state and federal gas tax–because hardworking Michiganders deserve relief at the pump.”

Michigan’s fuel-tax increase

Michigan’s gasoline tax climbed from 31 cents per gallon in 2025 to 52.4 cents per gallon this year. The roughly 21-cent increase followed a change in state policy that replaced the previous flat 6-cent fuel excise tax with a formula that factors inflation into the rate.

The higher levy places Michigan among the states with the largest gasoline taxes. A July survey by the center-right Tax Foundation ranked Michigan sixth nationally for its state gas tax.

For drivers, the tax calculation does not stop at the state line. The federal gasoline tax is 18.3 cents per gallon, bringing the combined state and federal tax total paid by Michigan motorists to about 70 cents per gallon.

Fuel-tax revenue supports a broad set of public uses in Michigan. State highways, county road systems, municipal infrastructure, villages, public transportation and local recreation projects all receive funding connected to taxed gasoline sales. That means a tax holiday could offer short-term savings for drivers while also raising questions about how transportation and local-project funding would be maintained during any suspension.

National debate over a federal holiday

Rogers’s proposal comes as the idea of pausing the federal gas tax has again become part of the national political debate. President Trump said in May that he would support halting the federal levy until the time was right to restore it.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), however, rejected a proposal from House Republicans this week to suspend the federal tax. The White House had not responded to a request for clarification on whether Trump continues to back a federal gas-tax pause.

Several states have already used temporary tax relief as a response to elevated gasoline prices. Georgia, Indiana and Kentucky were among the states that offered drivers gas-tax holidays earlier this year.

Such measures can reduce the tax portion of a fill-up, but the final price paid by consumers also depends on crude oil markets, refining costs, distribution expenses and geopolitical developments. The current increase has coincided with the Iran war, which has kept pressure on prices at the pump.

Prices remain elevated

The nationwide average for a gallon of regular gasoline stood near $4.44 on Thursday. That represented an increase of roughly 37 cents from a month earlier and nearly $1.50 more than the average two days before the United States and Israel began the Iran conflict.

Trump has maintained that increased fuel prices are an acceptable consequence of military action intended to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. Speaking at a North Carolina rally for Republican Senate candidate Michael Whatley, he predicted that gasoline costs would decline after the conflict concludes.

“It’s a very inexpensive price to pay for what we’ve done. Remember that,” Trump told rallygoers.

El-Sayed disputes Rogers’s diagnosis

El-Sayed rejected Rogers’s argument that fuel taxes are the main reason drivers are paying more. Instead, he placed responsibility for the increase on the conflict involving Iran and criticized Rogers’s support for Trump.

“Mike — it’s not taxes that are spiking our prices, it’s the insane war your boss Donald Trump got us into. You called it a ‘win-win-win.’ GTFOH,” El-Sayed wrote Thursday on X.

The acronym in El-Sayed’s post stands for “get the f— outta here.” His campaign was contacted about whether he supports suspending either Michigan’s fuel tax or the federal gasoline tax.

The dispute illustrates the competing arguments likely to shape Michigan’s Senate contest: Rogers is presenting tax relief as a direct response to rising household costs, while El-Sayed contends that the underlying cause is the war and the policy decisions surrounding it. For Michigan drivers, any tax suspension would be most visible in the price displayed at the pump, but the broader political debate reaches beyond a single fill-up to transportation funding, energy policy and the national response to the conflict.