Democrat Governor Walz has recently proposed increasing the gas tax by 20 cents a gallon. An average family would be roughly $300 more per year for gas.
Newly elected Senate Republican Jason Rarick is countering the large gas tax increase proposal by authoring a bill to lower the gas tax by 20 cents. Senator Rarick explains that as legislators negotiate the gas tax he does not want the middle ground to be a 10 cent increase.
Governor Walz has made the gas tax an important part of his 2019 budget and has not yet responded to the proposal by Senator Jason Rarick.
Economist John Phelan has criticized the gas tax proposal saying that Minnesota already has a very large surplus and that Minnesota already collects enough taxes.
