Ohio’s leading candidates for governor are backing a temporary suspension of the state motor-fuel tax, turning a proposal for near-term relief at the pump into a central issue in the final stretch of the 2026 campaign.
Republican nominee Vivek Ramaswamy said he is working with state lawmakers on a bill that would pause the tax for 90 days. Democratic nominee Amy Acton called for a suspension a day earlier, while Libertarian nominee Don Kissick and running mate James Mills have also supported a pause, according to statehouse reporting published Wednesday.
The proposal remains a campaign position, not enacted policy. Any holiday would require legislation and would have to address the transportation revenue that the tax currently supplies. Ohio law sets the levy at 38.5 cents per gallon of gasoline and 47 cents for diesel and other motor fuel. The state code directs the proceeds to road and bridge construction, maintenance and repair, state agency operations and matching funds for transportation work.
Ramaswamy said the suspension should last three months and argued that Ohioans should not pay the added tax while fuel prices are elevated. Acton described a pause as a short-term trade-off that should be paired with longer-term measures. Their competing announcements put both major-party campaigns on the same side of the immediate question, even as they differ over who raised it first and how the state should absorb the cost.
The unresolved fiscal issue is significant because the tax is not general-purpose revenue. Ohio’s statute allocates 28 cents of each gallon across state highways, county and township roads, municipal streets, bridges, traffic controls and transportation debt. Revenue above that amount is also restricted to transportation-related uses. A suspension would therefore require lawmakers to identify replacement money, postpone work or accept a temporary reduction in collections.
Gov. Mike DeWine has resisted similar proposals. In a June interview, he said fuel-tax dollars were essential for roads, highways, bridges and pothole repairs, and argued that inflation had reduced their purchasing power. He has since said he wants to see details of the new proposal before commenting further.
The mechanics also matter for motorists. A 90-day suspension would remove up to 38.5 cents from the state-tax component of a gallon of gasoline, but the retail price effect would depend on how quickly wholesalers and stations pass the change through. Ohio’s law levies the tax on motor-fuel dealers when fuel is received in the state, rather than as a separate charge collected directly from drivers at the register.
Lawmakers are away from their regular summer schedule, so timing is uncertain. Ramaswamy said Senate President Rob McColley, his running mate, was helping with the push, while legislators quoted in Wednesday’s report expressed interest in some form of relief but uncertainty about how quickly a bill could move.
For Ohio voters, the immediate test is whether campaign agreement produces a detailed measure: its start and end dates, the treatment of diesel, the size and source of replacement transportation funding, and safeguards intended to translate the tax pause into lower posted prices. Until those terms are introduced and passed, the existing tax and its restricted transportation uses remain in force.
