As Georgia’s General Assembly prepares to eliminate the state’s gas tax to alleviate increasing prices at the pump, the state’s gas prices soared to a record high.
According to the American Automobile Association (AAA), Thursday’s average cost per gallon of gas was $4.29 in the Peach State, eclipsing its previous record of $4.16 per gallon on September 15, 2008.
That price reflects a jump of 10 cents per gallon on average from Wednesday and 66 cents per gallon on average just one week ago. One month ago, average gas prices per gallon hovered at $3.32. A year ago, the average price for a gallon of gas was $2.63.
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp (R) placed the blame squarely on the shoulders of President Joe Biden.
“President Biden took office in January of 2021, and to understand why we are in this current state of record-high inflation and costs to the average American family, people can simply track his first year of misguided policy decisions,” he said, as reported by The Georgia Star News.
“Because of our strong, fiscally conservative approach to budgeting, Lt. Governor Duncan, Speaker Ralston, and I can confidently propose a state motor fuel tax suspension to curb sky-high gas prices while also returning money back to hardworking Georgians through a tax refund and an income tax cut,” he continued. “With this latest measure, we are making it even more clear that in Georgia we are going to empower families to keep their money in their own pockets.”
Several other states nationwide have broken their average gas price records this week.
Connecticut was one of them.
After jumping 66 cents per gallon on average in one week, Connecticut broke its record high of $4.39 per gallon, reaching $4.47 per gallon Thursday.
Virginia broke its record high of $4.01 per gallon on average, a mark set on July 17, 2008. The cost of a gallon of gas in that state Thursday was $4.24.
Ohio is six cents away from breaking its all-time record high, and this week, one of the state’s prominent Democrats attempted to shift the blame from the Biden administration to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“Today I’ll vote to ban U.S. dollars from funding Putin’s war machine. Now we must do everything in our power to shield working people from Putin’s price hike at the pump by fully restoring America’s energy independence and passing a working-class tax cut,” Representative Tim Ryan (D-OH-13) said Wednesday on Twitter.
Today I’ll vote to ban U.S. dollars from funding Putin’s war machine.
Now we must do everything in our power to shield working people from Putin’s price hike at the pump by fully restoring America’s energy independence and passing a working-class tax cut.
— Congressman Tim Ryan (@RepTimRyan) March 9, 2022
As The Ohio Star reported, gas prices have spiked during the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, but they have been steadily rising from the beginning of Biden’s presidency.
_ _ _
Pete D’Abrosca is a reporter at The Georgia Star News and The Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Gasoline Truck” by Rennett Stowe. CC BY 2.0.
