Drivers are paying the 33-cent-per-gallon excise tax at Georgia gas pumps again, but the suspension that ended Tuesday saved them nearly $200 million in May.
Motor fuel tax collections fell by $199.6 million, or 99.5%, compared to May 2025, according to the Georgia Department of Revenue.
Georgia lawmakers approved a gas tax suspension from late March through May 19, the date of the primary election. But Gov. Brian Kemp, using his authority to declare a state of emergency, extended the suspension by two weeks, into June.
Last week, he amended his call for a special session to begin June 17, asking the Legislature to approve his emergency tax suspension retroactively. In May, Kemp had ordered the special session to redraw district lines.
Tax revenues for May would have fallen even without the gas tax suspension. Collections were down 12.6%, or $339.1 million, from a year earlier, for a total of $2.35 billion.
However, the year-over-year comparison is complicated by the lingering effects of Hurricane Helene, which delayed tax filings last year and shifted collections from April to May.
Kemp’s office noted that, taken together, collections from April and May this year were down 1.9% from a year ago but were up 2.5% when excluding changes to motor fuel taxes.
