Governor Shapiro took to Facebook this week to play a familiar game: blame Trump. Pointing to the War in Iran, Shapiro claims gas prices are “skyrocketing” across Pennsylvania — and apparently, the buck stops in Washington. But here’s what the Governor hopes you won’t notice: gas hikes begin at home. And for Pennsylvanians filling up their tanks right now, that’s exactly the problem.
Currently, Pennsylvania has the fourth-highest gas tax in the country. This is a direct result of Act 89 passed in 2013 which was supposed to raise $2.3 for transportation by lifting the cap on the Oil Company Franchise Tax and allowing the wholesale tax to climb unchecked. Drivers are still paying for it.
Shapiro wasn’t in Harrisburg when that bill passed, but when Republicans pushed to cut the gas tax during his 2022 gubernatorial run, Shapiro said no. Skip the relief, take a rebate check he argued. Now, with prices climbing, he’s on Facebook pointing at Donald Trump.
More than a decade later, Pennsylvania is the most expensive place to fill up among every state it borders — New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia, Ohio, and New York. All of them. Even New York, where drivers pay sixteen-cents less per gallon than in Pennsylvania. Just because Pennsylvania is exceptional does not mean we should pay for it at the pump.
But higher prices are not just at the pump. Fuel moves goods across the state, and higher diesel prices mean higher freight rates, which get passed straight to consumers. Groceries, materials, everyday necessities all cost more when it is expensive to move them. Every household pays that price, whether they own a car or not.
As the Consumer Energy Alliance reported earlier this that fuel costs make up between 19 and 37 percent of total operating costs for family farms. When diesel gets expensive, so does everything that depends on it, which is everything. Corn, eggs, chicken, produce. Pennsylvania’s elevated gas tax does not exist in a vacuum. It is baked into every freight rate, every delivery charge, and every grocery receipt in the commonwealth.
The burden falls hardest on working Pennsylvanians who have no alternative. Long-distance commuters, contractors, tradespeople, delivery drivers, parents driving children to school. These are not people who can absorb a bad policy decision and move on. And unlike an income tax, the gas tax does not care what you make. Every gallon costs the same whether you are a partner at a law firm or driving forty minutes to a warehouse job.
Lawmakers have recognized the problem for years. Proposals to cap or eliminate the gas tax have come and gone. None of it has moved. And Shapiro has never made it a priority.
Supporters of the current tax structure may say the money goes to roads and bridges. That argument might hold water if Pennsylvania’s roads and bridges were actually in good shape. They are not. The American Society of Civil Engineers gave Pennsylvania’s roads a C- and bridges a D+ in 2022. With those grades, our roads and bridges would be lucky to get waitlisted to Penn State – although they could get into their safety school at Ohio State.
The current tax structure did not fix Pennsylvania’s infrastructure. It just made Pennsylvanians poorer.
Yes, the war in Iran is pushing prices up nationwide. California is already over $5 a gallon, a preview of what destructive energy policy looks like at full speed. But states with lower gas taxes, like Texas, Kentucky, and our own neighbor Ohio, are cushioning that blow. Pennsylvania isn’t.
When the global market moves, a state already carrying a $0.576 per gallon tax burden feels it worse than almost anywhere else. Governor Shapiro knows this. He has always known this. Instead of fixing it, he went on Facebook to blame someone else.
That’s not Trump’s fault. That’s Harrisburg’s.
Gabriela Mendez is the Pennsylvania State Director at the Our America Foundation.
