Georgia suspends its gas tax for 30 days: 37.3 cents off diesel, but farm equipment on dyed diesel gains nothing

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp declared a state of emergency on Monday and suspended the state's motor fuel excise tax for 30 days, his office announced. The suspension starts at 12:01 a.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 29, and runs through Oct. 29. It removes 33.3 cents a gallon on gasoline and 37.3 cents on diesel, against statewide averages the governor's office put at $4.19 for regular and $6.24 for diesel.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported the break is expected to cost the state about $200 million a month, likely covered from Georgia's surplus. The order also suspends state weight limits for some commercial vehicles and bans price gouging on fuel.

The size of the cut, in percent

The two taxes are close in cents but not in share of the price. At Monday's averages, the gasoline tax is about 7.9% of a gallon of regular, while the diesel tax is about 6.0% of a gallon of diesel, because diesel costs so much more. If the full tax is passed through, regular would fall to roughly $3.86 and diesel to roughly $5.87. The Georgia Department of Revenue says the tax is collected at the distributor level and passed on to consumers, so the pump price depends on stations repricing, not on the tax disappearing by itself. Prepaid local sales tax on fuel is not suspended.

Who saves what

These are illustrative figures for the 30-day window, assuming the full tax reaches the pump:

• A trucking company fueling in Georgia that buys 2,000 gallons of diesel a month saves about $746 (2,000 × $0.373). Carriers filing under the International Fuel Tax Agreement owe tax by miles driven in each state, not where they fill up. During Georgia's spring suspension the Department of Revenue told IFTA filers to report Georgia miles in the tax-free window as non-taxable, per its IFTA guidance. Watch for the equivalent notice covering Sept. 29 to Oct. 29 before you file for the fourth quarter.
• A contractor or landscaper running five gasoline pickups at 20 gallons a week each burns about 430 gallons over the month, which is about $143 saved (430 × $0.333). Useful, but small beside a single job's materials bill.
• A farm gets less than the headlines suggest. The Department of Revenue notes that fuel for off-highway use, including dyed diesel, is generally not subject to Georgia's motor fuel excise tax in the first place. Tractors and combines on dyed diesel were not paying the 37.3 cents, so there is nothing to suspend. The saving applies to the farm's on-road trucks.

What the weight-limit waiver does and does not cover

The weight relief is narrower than "suspends weight limits" sounds. According to 41NBC, which read the executive order, qualifying vehicles traveling for emergency-related purposes may run above normal weight and size limits on state-maintained roads, but not interstates. They need a permit from the Georgia Department of Public Safety, and posted bridge limits still apply.

Third holiday this year

This is Georgia's third fuel-tax suspension of 2026. Revenue department records show a legislative suspension from March 20 through May 19 and an executive extension from May 20 through June 2. The new order ends Oct. 29 unless Kemp renews the emergency. For a business pricing jobs or freight into November, that date is the one to plan around: bids that assume $5.87 diesel could be underwater if the tax comes back on Oct. 30.

24,679 independent trucking and freight are listed on CheckThisBiz, a directory of 7,704,724 independent US businesses, including 2,868 in TX, 2,828 in CA, 1,916 in FL. Chains and franchises are excluded from that count, so these are the owner-operated businesses that actually apply for funding.

Our directory counts 242,971 independent businesses in Georgia, including 898 trucking and freight operators and 4,324 construction businesses. More on the fuel squeeze: what federal red-dyed diesel relief would mean, record diesel for truckers, landscapers and farms, and the crude oil chart.

Sources: Office of the Governor of Georgia; Georgia Department of Revenue; Atlanta Journal-Constitution; 41NBC/WMGT; CheckThisBiz business counts. Fuel-cost examples are our illustrative calculations. This is market information, not investment advice.