When I head back to Columbus on Sept. 30, I'll cast one of the easiest votes of my time in the Ohio House: yes to suspending Ohio's gas tax for 90 days. And it’s thanks to leadership from Vivek Ramaswamy, working with his running mate and Senate President Rob McColley, and Speaker Matt Huffman.
Every family in Southwest Ohio has felt the pain at the gas pump. Gas has lingered around $4.50 a gallon, and diesel has pushed toward $7. The large numbers hovering along the interstate affect the commute down 71 and 75, the drive to practice, the trip to see Grandma. Further, diesel moves nearly everything we buy, causing inflation in what we pay at the grocery store, at the hardware store, and on the farm, right in the middle of harvest.
Suspending the
state's 38.5-cent tax on gasoline and 47-cent tax on diesel puts real money back in the pockets of working Ohioans when they need it most. For families, it's breathing room. For an independent trucker, the savings over 90 days approach $2,000.
Relief at the pump can't come at the expense of our roads
Relief also must protect the roads we drive on. The gas tax funds ODOT, and more than a third of it flows to our cities, counties and townships. That's how Lebanon paves its streets, how our townships plow their roads and how Ohio draws down federal highway dollars. Simply shutting off that spigot would shift the bill to local governments, stall construction and leave us short when the first snow falls.
That's why this plan pairs relief at the pump with a responsible backfill, drawing the money that we, as good stewards of taxpayer dollars, have accrued. Every time we have cut taxes, we have actually received more revenue because people benefit from government getting off their backs. Actual payments will continue to follow the complete existing formulas, protecting federal matching funds, construction commitments and winter maintenance. Your township trustees won't be left holding the bag. Even the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, long skeptical of gas tax holidays, said the backfill answers its concerns.
That's what leadership looks like: See a problem, write a plan, count the cost and work with the legislature to pass it.
A gas tax holiday will require bipartisan votes
Now we need all hands. For relief to reach Ohioans before winter rather than 90 days after passage, the bill needs an emergency clause, which requires a two-thirds vote in each chamber. I hope my Democratic colleagues will set partisanship aside and join us. Families filling up in Mason and Lebanon just want to see it done.
Dr. Amy Acton called for a gas tax holiday, too. But she offered no bill, no price tag and no plan to protect the roads and local governments that depend on the tax. Only the legislature can suspend a tax, and a call with no path to passage leaves Ohioans waiting.
We've seen this before. As health director in 2020, Dr. Acton signed orders that shuttered businesses, closed schools and barred families from visiting loved ones in the hospital. She has since said that pressure to reopen county fairs was her final straw. The demands came from the top, and the consequences landed on small business owners, parents, teachers and local officials left to pick up the pieces, with no plan other than her top-line desire.
Leadership means working with people, including those you disagree with. Vivek Ramaswamy has done that with the legislature. Dr. Amy Acton won't even share a debate stage with her opponent.
Ohioans deserve relief at the pump, roads that are still there when the holiday ends, and the leadership that makes it all happen. We all need to vote to make that happen.
State Rep. Adam Mathews, R-Warren County, has served in the Ohio House of Representatives' 56th district since 2023.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Ohio gas tax holiday will give families relief at the pump | Opinion
