Chris Wright, the energy secretary, said on Sunday that the Trump administration would be open to pausing the federal gas tax to give Americans some relief at the pump.
“All measures that can be taken to lower the price of at the pump and lower the prices for Americans, this administration is in support of,” Mr. Wright said on the NBC program “Meet the Press” in response to a question about temporarily suspending the federal gas tax.
As of Sunday, the average national gas price was $4.52 a gallon, according to the AAA motor club. Americans pay a little over 18 cents a gallon for gasoline and about 24 cents a gallon for diesel in federal taxes. If the taxes were paused today, the average price for gasoline would be $4.34 a gallon, still well above the average price of $2.98 a gallon two days before President Trump began the war against Iran.
The small price drop would probably do little to alleviate the financial pain for lower-income Americans, who have been hardest hit by the soaring gas prices.
Depending on how long the possible gas tax holiday would last, it could have a substantial impact on the Highway Trust Fund, which mainly relies on the tax to fund road construction and repairs across the country.
Mr. Trump has promised that high gas prices will be “short-term,” but last month Mr. Wright said that gas prices could remain elevated for months, even after the Iran conflict ends.
On Sunday, Mr. Wright was more circumspect. “I can’t make any predictions about oil prices or gasoline prices,” he said, adding that “when we start to get free flow of traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, energy prices will come down.”
Ship traffic through the straight remains effectively blocked by two competing blockades enforced by each side in the conflict.
