Indiana’s 60 Cent Gas Tax Break Ends Wednesday Unless the Governor Extends It Again

• Indiana’s suspension of its gasoline use tax and gasoline excise tax, worth roughly 60 cents a gallon, runs out on Wednesday, Nov. 4.
• Gov. Mike Braun said in an interview published Oct. 29 that another extension, through early December, is likely, but no renewal has been announced.
• AAA puts Indiana regular at $3.82 a gallon on Nov. 1 against $4.17 nationally, and the same gallon would cost about $4.42 with both taxes back.

What Happens at the Pump on November 5 If the Break Lapses

Every Indiana driver filling up right now pays about 60 cents a gallon less than the tax code would charge. The break covers two levies, the gasoline use tax and the gasoline excise tax, and Braun’s executive order of Sept. 30 keeps both suspended in all 92 counties through Nov. 4. The order stops there, and only a new signature carries the suspension to Nov. 5.

The money is easy to count. A 15 gallon fill-up carries about $9.00 of suspended tax at 60 cents a gallon. A commuter who buys 40 gallons a month carries $24.00. A contractor whose van burns through 100 gallons a week carries $60.00 a week. Those are estimates built on the roughly 60 cent figure, and they show what disappears if the order is not renewed.

Braun has pointed toward renewal. He said the dynamics look about the same and that an extension would carry the holiday through early December. A statement of intent from a governor is not an order, though, and the signed paperwork is what stops the clock on Wednesday.

How the Holiday Works and What It Saves

Braun first declared the holiday on April 8, a 30 day suspension that began as a response to the conflict in Iran. The Indiana Department of Revenue guidance sets the dates: no gasoline use tax collected from retailers from April 8 through Nov. 4, and no gasoline excise tax accrued on gallons received from May 6 through Nov. 4. The Sept. 30 order was the seventh month in a row that Braun renewed the break, and it covers the period from Oct. 6. Prices elsewhere have climbed this year: the national average reached a Labor Day record of $4.14 a gallon in September.

Neither tax is collected at the pump. Distributors handle both, and the Department of Revenue told them not to collect the use tax from retailers or accrue the excise tax through Nov. 4. A distributor that already collected tax in the suspended window has to reconcile with its retailers. A retailer charged use tax in that period works the balance out with its own distributor, as the department will not issue standard refunds on Form GA-110L for those amounts. The order leaves the annual inventory filing on Form IVT-1 as it was.

Braun presented the break as a pocketbook measure in his Sept. 30 release. “Affordability is my top priority, and my gas tax suspensions have delivered immediate tax relief and some of the cheapest gas in America for Hoosier families,” said Gov. Mike Braun of Indiana. He puts the savings to residents above $1 billion.

The same order carries a second, narrower relief. Farmers and timber harvesters can run off-road dyed diesel in highway vehicles that haul farm and timber products on public roads, a waiver effective Sept. 30 that lasts as long as the energy emergency. Braun estimates the diesel relief costs the state $1 million to $3 million a month. Ordinary diesel buyers get nothing from the holiday, which has never covered diesel.

Where Indiana Prices Sit Now

AAA’s Nov. 1 survey puts Indiana regular at $3.8230 a gallon, 35 cents under the national average of $4.1732. Mid grade runs $4.4189 and premium $4.9495. The state average sat at $3.8113 a month earlier and $3.9973 a week earlier, so the latest reading is about 17 cents lower than last week and about 1 cent above last month. A year ago Indiana regular cost $2.9177, which means drivers pay about 91 cents more than they did then even with both taxes suspended.

Pump prices nationally have been falling from an October record high, and Indiana’s average sits 35 cents below the national figure even so.

Metro averages show how little room sits between the cheapest and dearest stations. Evansville is the lowest metro at $3.5515. Lafayette is at $3.7650, Fort Wayne at $3.8173, Gary at $3.8174, Indianapolis at $3.8385 and South Bend at $3.8500. The highest listed metro is the Dearborn, Franklin, Ohio and Union county area at $3.9848. Across all counties the AAA map runs from $3.5170 to $4.0740.

Add 60 cents to those figures and the ranking of bargains changes. Indiana regular would sit near $4.42, about 25 cents above the national average. Evansville would climb to $4.1515, Indianapolis to $4.4385 and the Dearborn area to $4.5848. Those are straight arithmetic, not forecasts, and the price on any given street can land above or below them.

Diesel drivers are already in a different spot. The AAA Indiana average for diesel is $6.7639, against $3.8206 a year ago, a rise of $2.9433. Indiana’s diesel record is $6.9217, set on Sept. 24.

Who Pays the Bill for the Break

The suspension is not free. The gas taxes fund local road projects, and the state has covered the gap from its reserves. The Indiana State Board of Finance approved $138,903,493.28 in reimbursements for July 1 through July 31 in mid September, and $46,192,429.96 of that total went to counties, cities and towns. The board had approved $121,159,722.89 and $130,450,219.60 in earlier rounds. The three approvals together come to $390,513,435.77.

Braun said the state funds the holiday out of $2 billion in extra reserves built in one year. A tax advisory firm that tracks the order estimates the cost at roughly $140 million for each month the taxes stay suspended. Lawmakers have raised concerns about the spending and its effect on local governments, which rely on fuel tax money for road work.

There is a structural issue underneath the dollars. Braun has said gas tax revenue shrinks as vehicles get better fuel economy, and that the legislature has to deal with it. Asked whether gas taxes could be gone for good, he gave no yes or no. “That’ll be a big discussion, but we’ll need to have it,” Braun said. The holiday has pushed that argument forward from a slow budget debate to a monthly decision.

The December Cliff and the January Session

The legal runway is short. Braun declared the first energy emergency in April, citing the conflict in Iran, and ran it for the full 120 day window. After it expired he declared a second emergency on Aug. 7, citing the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and the Canadian wildfires, which opened a fresh window. Indiana’s Attorney General Todd Rokita backed that approach, saying nothing in the state’s emergency powers statutes bars a governor from declaring separate emergencies based on different factors. No court challenge had been filed as of mid October.

The authority under that second emergency is set to expire in the first week of December. A renewal on Nov. 4 would take the holiday to Dec. 4, which the tax advisory firm describes as the last renewal this emergency allows. Braun has indicated that a third emergency order is unlikely, and he did not say what happens after that first week of December.

That leaves the General Assembly. Lawmakers convene in January, and they could take up a longer term answer on gas taxes. If the taxes return in early December, drivers would face the full 60 cents at the start of the holiday season with no relief in place.

Other states run their own breaks. Georgia’s gas tax pause runs to Nov. 30.

What Drivers and Retailers Should Do

Check the signed order before changing any habit. The Governor’s office and the Department of Revenue publish the executive orders and the gasoline tax guidance, and the order is what counts, not a statement in an interview. If Braun renews, the break continues without a gap, as it did when the Oct. 6 period began with no lapse.

Compare prices before Wednesday night. The AAA Indiana page lists the state average, metro averages and a county map updated daily, and price apps show station level prices. A fill-up before the deadline is a judgment call. No order or Revenue Department guidance says how fast stations reprice when the taxes come back, and if Braun renews, an early fill-up saves nothing. A full 15 gallon tank bought at the old price is worth up to $9.00 only if prices jump at once.

Fleet managers and contractors should budget both ways. A van that burns 100 gallons a week costs $60.00 a week more with the taxes back. Retailers should talk to their distributor now about the pricing changes on Nov. 5 and remember that no standard refund on Form GA-110L applies to use tax charged in the suspended window. Farmers and timber haulers keep the dyed diesel waiver for as long as the energy emergency runs.

Everyone else gets a simple instruction: watch Wednesday. The decision lands the day after Election Day, and it sets the next month of gas prices for Hoosier drivers.

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