Michigan Senate candidate Mike Rogers (R) on Thursday called on lawmakers to suspend taxes on gas sales as Americans face higher prices at the pump.
Blasting “Lansing Democrats” for wanting “more money out of your pocket and in the government’s,” Rogers urged state and federal governments to lower their respective duties. He noted that Michigan’s gas tax rose from 31 cents per gallon in 2025 to 52.4 cents per gallon this year under its majority Democratic leadership.
“That’s unconscionable. Abdul and the Democrats already gave us the highest utility rates in the midwest with their failed energy policies,” Rogers said in a statement, referring to his Democratic opponent, Abdul El-Sayed.
“Working families need leaders who will bring the costs of energy down, not ones who will make their lives less affordable,” the former congressman added. “That’s why I’m calling for a suspension of both the state and federal gas tax—because hardworking Michiganders deserve relief at the pump.”
The increase of roughly 21 cents came after state politicians replaced the flat 6 percent excise on fuel with a new rate formula that takes inflation into account. According to Michigan’s Treasury Department, the money goes to funding state highways, county roads, cities and villages, public transit and local recreation projects.
Michigan has the sixth-highest state gas tax in the country, according to a July survey by the center-right Tax Foundation. With the federal gas tax of 18.3 cents per gallon added in, Michiganders pay 70 cents in taxes per gallon at the pump.
President Trump told reporters in May he would support suspending the federal gas tax “until its appropriate” to reimplement it. But Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) shut down House Republicans’ proposal to do so this week. The White House did not immediately respond to The Hill’s request for comment on whether Trump still supports the idea.
Elected officials in Georgia, Indiana and Kentucky temporarily provided drivers with a gas tax holiday earlier this year, as prices remain elevated amid the Iran war. Regular gas in the U.S. costs roughly $4.44 per gallon on average as of Thursday, according to AAA. That is up roughly 37 cents from a month ago and nearly $1.50 from two days before the U.S. and Israel launched the Iran conflict.
Trump has argued higher gas prices are worth it for the U.S. military to prevent the Islamic Republic from developing a nuclear weapon. On Wednesday, he predicted fuel prices will “come tumbling down” once the war ends. “It’s a very inexpensive price to pay for what we’ve done. Remember that,” Trump told rallygoers in North Carolina while stumping for GOP Senate candidate Michael Whatley.
El-Sayed, a progressive battling Rogers to succeed outgoing Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), blamed the war, and not gas taxes, for higher prices.
“Mike — it’s not taxes that are spiking our prices, it’s the insane war your boss Donald Trump got us into. You called it a ‘win-win-win.’ GTFOH,” El-Sayed wrote Thursday on X, using an acronym meaning “get the f— outta here.”
The Michigan Democrat clarified in a later post that he was “of course” in favor of suspending the fuel tax, but he again blamed the Iran war for the rise in gas prices.
“So your turn: are you in favor of continuing this war in Iran?” he said to Rogers, who had asked El-Sayed on X whether he backed suspending the gas tax. “How about the tariff war with Canada?”
