The NFIB is asking NC politicians for fuel-tax relief. | Dawn McDonald/Unsplash
The NFIB is asking NC politicians for fuel-tax relief. | Dawn McDonald/Unsplash
North Carolina’s small-business owners are appealing to Gov. Roy Cooper (D-NC) and legislators to suspend the state’s fuel tax as a way to ease the pain of higher prices for those in the Tarheel State.
The plea was made by the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB), an advocacy group for entrepreneurs.
“Gas prices are soaring in North Carolina,” NFIB State Director Gregg Thompson said in a news release. “Today, the statewide average is $4.17 a gallon. That’s up from $4.03 a week ago and $3.35 a month ago. That’s bad, because the cost of fuel affects the cost of everything, from raw materials to inventory to pickups and deliveries.”
Those who run small businesses cite inflation as their biggest challenge. In the most recent NFIB Small Business Optimism Index, 26% of small-business owners nationwide said inflation is the most important challenge to their business. That is the highest percentage of people to list inflation as their top priority since the third quarter of 1981, the news release said.
In asking North Carolina politicians for fuel-tax relief, the agency used Virginia and Tennessee as examples of states that have made moves to reduce planned increases in their tax rates for gasoline. Other states, including Georgia and Florida, are considering a suspension of their fuel taxes, the news release said.
“Our members believe North Carolina should join this growing list,” Thompson said in the news release. “Suspending North Carolina’s 38.5 cents per gallon fuel tax would provide immediate financial relief for North Carolinians.”
With a projected budget surplus of $2.4 billion and a rainy-day fund of $4.2 billion, Thompson said the state is in good fiscal health and can afford to give its residents the tax break.
“We believe North Carolina can and should suspend the motor fuels tax as soon as possible,” he said.
State officials first started talking about a possible suspension of the fuel tax in March, when prices were near their peak, a news report shows, but no decision has yet been made.
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