The 2022 Alabama Regular Legislative Session is over so any changes in tax policy will have to wait for legislators to return in March of 2023. Republican gubernatorial candidate Lindy Blanchard maintains that incumbent Gov. Kay Ivey (R) can suspend the controversial state tax on fuel.
“Many people have asked if the Alabama Governor can suspend the gas tax, and the answer is YES, SHE CAN!” Blanchard said Sunday in a statement. “The Governor made CARES stimulus funds exempt from the state income tax in 2020. She can also order the Commissioner of the Alabama Department of Revenue to suspend a tax, as the Commissioner has done before. In both these cases, taxes were suspended under a State of Emergency, in accordance with the Alabama Emergency Management Act. Using this as precedent, the Governor does indeed have the power to suspend the gas tax and to call the Legislature into special session to repeal it–because what the Legislature has done, it can also undo.”
Blanchard wrote that due to the rapid increase in gas prices, many Alabamians are in an emergency situation. Cost of food, medicine and other items are increasing as a result of higher fuel costs.
"Joe Biden’s inflation is going up faster than wages or benefits, and many Alabamians are facing hard choices between food, gas and medicine," Blanchard wrote.
“I am fighting to suspend and repeal the gas tax. I've promised to make it a priority of my administration from my first day in office,” said Blanchard. “I also want to find other ways to pay for the projects that have already been started using gas tax funds, mainly by cutting waste and fraud. I will also work to end the grocery tax, because it’s the right thing to do for our poorest citizens.”
Blanchard has started a petition drive asking voters to support her effort to suspend the gas tax.
Raising fuel taxes by ten cents per gallon in order to fund increased road repairs and maintenance as well as to expand the Port of Mobile was a major first year priority for Ivey as governor.
Blanchard is a self-made millionaire, philanthropist and the former U.S. Ambassador to Slovenia for the Trump Administration.
Lindy Blanchard, Lew Burdette, Stacy George, Ivey, Tim James, Donald Trent Jones, Dean Odle, Dave Thomas, and Dean Young are all running in the May 24 Republican Primary for Governor.
The winner of the Republican primary will face the winner of the Democratic primary on May 24.
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