Nashville, Tenn.–When Tennessee House Representative Bruce Griffey (R-Paris) first ran for office in 2018, one of the issues on which he campaigned was the repeal of then Governor Bill Haslam’s 2017 legislation to raise the state’s tax on gasoline by 6 cents and diesel by 10 cents per gallon over a three-year period. Griffey said he has honored his campaign promise by filing a bill (House Bill 1650) to do just that.
“I was opposed to the gas tax increase when it passed, and vowed to take action to fight it if elected to office. With gas prices exponentially rising due to inflationary pressures from bad, reckless policies of the Biden Administration, it is imperative now more than ever to provide financial relief to Tennesseans at the pump,” Griffey said.
Griffey’s bill proposes to repeal the 2017 gas tax increase and instead divert funds from the State’s budget surplus to fund transportation and infrastructure projects. “The State is already collecting excess taxes from its citizens. Indeed, in Fiscal Year 2021, which ended in July 2021, Tennessee collected $3.1 Billion more in taxes than the legislature budgeted,” Griffey said. “Just last month, November 2021, tax collections by the State of Tennessee were up 21.73% more than November 2020 with $286.5 Million in excess taxes collected over budget.”
Griffey explained, “Under my legislative proposal, the State would continue funding transportation and highway projects at the same financial level while at the same time giving tax relief to its citizens. We wouldn’t miss a beat with our infrastructure projects because Tennessee has the money. In fact, our coffers are overflowing and we are on a continued revenue growth trajectory, which is why the legislature needs to be looking at reasonable ways to effect responsible tax reform and mechanisms to return excess tax collections to taxpayers. My bill is one way to do it.”