The national average for a gallon of gas is currently $4.53, up 3 cents from a week ago, nearly 50 cents from a month ago, and $1.35 from one year ago (as of 5/19/26).

Last month, the inflation rate rose 3.8% from a year prior, signaling that the impact of rising gas prices due to the Iran conflict had spread beyond the energy sector to broader categories of spending.

Now, new polling from CBS News/YouGov indicates how rising energy prices are affecting households. About half are in a good financial position, but a plurality expressed anxiety, and that share is rising:

  • 49% said they see their personal financial and economic situation as “very good” or “fairly good”
  • 44% view their situation as either “fairly bad” or “very bad
  • 7% were unsure about their personal financial and economic situation

In a different question, a whopping 77% of Americans said their incomes are not keeping up with inflation.

In just one month, the shares of Americans who are unaffected or only inconvenienced by rising gas prices fell 8 percentage points. However, the share whose higher prices are a hardship rose to nearly 60%.

National Gas Tax Holiday

Recognizing the hardship that gas prices create for workers, businesses, and households, President Trump has called on Congress to suspend the federal gas tax. 

In an interview earlier this week with CBS, he lauded the idea of freezing the federal gas tax as “a great idea.” He added, “We’re going to take off the gas tax for a period of time, and when gas goes down, we’ll let it phase back in.”

Suspending the entire 18.4-cent-per-gallon gas tax would save drivers about $8.90 per month, according to the Peter G. Peterson Foundation. Given that the average gallon is a little over $4.50 a gallon, critics are not wrong in pointing out that the suspension of the federal gas tax would provide just marginal relief.

The cost of the gas tax holiday would be significant. The Penn Wharton Budget Model estimated that a four-month holiday would cost the Highway Trust Fund roughly $11.5 billion in lost revenue. This fund supports the construction and maintenance of roads, bridges, and mass transit.

The president cannot suspend the gas tax; Congress must pass legislation to pause the tax collection, which would be on supplies and distributors, and so far, the idea has received mixed responses from conservatives in Congress.

Some worry about the fiscal impact and the impact on the national debt, whereas others worry that the impact on consumers would be too little and take too long to make an impact. 

Meanwhile, states could enact their own tax holidays, and some have.

Women and Families Need Relief. 

As my colleague, Katie Cook, wrote recently, families need relief and the gas tax suspension could deliver some of it:

Energy policy is about real women’s lives. When gas prices climb, women feel it first and hardest. We’re more likely to handle the family errands, drive to multiple jobs, or live in suburban or rural areas where a car isn’t a luxury, it’s a necessity. Higher fuel costs ripple through everything from food to transportation and basic needs for care.

Bottom Line

Whether or not Congress takes up the gas tax suspension or not, the key to bringing prices down is the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. In the long term, the expansion of oil in the global market from U.S. production to the United Arab Emirates, which dropped out of the OPEC oil cartel, will reduce prices in the long term and provide lasting, not just temporary, relief at the pump.