On July 1, Connecticut will increase its diesel tax, while Nebraska truckers will pay a slightly smaller tax and Georgia has delayed its increase.
Connecticut’s diesel tax will increase 6.6 cents a gallon next month. How much retailers pass on fuel taxes at the pump is up to the individual business owner, said Eugene A. Guilford Jr., president of the Independent Connecticut Petroleum Association. “That’s an independent business decision made by independent retailers, all of whom compete against each other,” Guilford said.
By contrast, Nebraska’s fuel tax will drop 0.1 cent a gallon for July through December, said Larry Johnson. president of the Nebraska Trucking Association. A portion of the state’s fuel tax is adjustable and is based on actual receipts for the previous six months to fund highway projects for the next six months. On July 1, that rate will drop from 26.4 to 26.3 cents a gallon.
“It is a system that works quite well to ensure that we only spend what we collect,” Johnson said. “We were successful in our last legislative session to secure 1/4 percent of our sales tax that would normally go to the general fund and direct it to our highway trust fund starting in 2012.”
That change will produce about $80 million to $90 million in new revenue for road improvements, he said.
On June 23, Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal suspended a 1.6-cent-a-gallon tax increase on motor fuel set to begin July 1. Deal’s executive order delayed this jump through Dec. 31 and the rate will instead remain at the May 1 rate until at least the end of the year.
Also July 1, North Carolina will increase its diesel tax 2.5 cents a gallon, while Maine will raise this tax 1/2-cent a gallon.