Plans for the summer family road trip may be stalled if something isn’t done about fuel prices, which have gone up 50% since the Iran war started on Feb. 28. This Memorial Day holiday, the national average price per gallon of gas is $4.55. In Florida, it’s a bit cheaper, $4.51. That compares to $3.19 nationally and $3.06 a gallon in Florida last year. People who drive for a living are really taking a beating. Nicole Gonzalez said the higher gas prices have affected her boyfriend’s garage door repair business.“My boyfriend drives all over, everywhere in Florida. He is a garage door technician, and he pays almost $100, like, three times a week. So, add that up to the end of the month, that’s almost $1,200 down the drain,” Gonzalez said. “It definitely cuts into my profit margin,” Tim Lorey told WESH 2 News at the pumps.He runs a landscape business and said he may have to pass along fuel expenses to his customers if something doesn’t change to start bringing prices down.“I don’t want to increase prices with my customers because I’ve had them for like a very long time, but it’s going to get to that point soon,” Lorey said. From Washington, D.C., to Tallahassee, federal and state lawmakers have been talking about potential relief at the pumps by a temporary suspension of fuel taxes. President Donald Trump is asking Congress to pass a bill to temporarily do away with the roughly 18-cent-per-gallon federal fuel tax.“I would vote for it if it came before us,” said Republican local Congressman Randy Fine, during a one-on-one interview with WESH 2 News.Fine said a temporary suspension of federal fuel taxes might help, but the real solution is a permanent ceasefire in Iran, and a wide-open Strait of Hormuz to keep oil flowing.“I hate that people are paying an extra $1 or $1.50 per gallon, but what I tell people is, think how expensive it would be if Iran detonated a nuclear weapon in the city of Orlando. And that is what we’re up against,” Fine said. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis this week, during a news conference in Jacksonville, said he would sign a Bill to give drivers a break on the roughly 38-cent state gasoline tax.Such a bill could be filed for a special session on property taxes in June or July. But DeSantis warns that a study of the one-month gas tax holiday in October 2022 revealed most retailers just increased their prices.DeSantis further explained, “If they (the Legislature) put that gas tax holiday in, I’ll happily sign it, but I don’t want to promise people that if you do that, you’ll suddenly see a huge change for the positive, in the price.”DeSantis also said this week he would entertain a Bill to bring back toll road rebates for commuters. It proved successful in generating savings of several hundred dollars annually for Floridians with transponders in their vehicles, but the program expired in May 2025.
Plans for the summer family road trip may be stalled if something isn’t done about fuel prices, which have gone up 50% since the Iran war started on Feb. 28. This Memorial Day holiday, the national average price per gallon of gas is $4.55. In Florida, it’s a bit cheaper, $4.51. That compares to $3.19 nationally and $3.06 a gallon in Florida last year.
People who drive for a living are really taking a beating. Nicole Gonzalez said the higher gas prices have affected her boyfriend’s garage door repair business.
“My boyfriend drives all over, everywhere in Florida. He is a garage door technician, and he pays almost $100, like, three times a week. So, add that up to the end of the month, that’s almost $1,200 down the drain,” Gonzalez said.
“It definitely cuts into my profit margin,” Tim Lorey told WESH 2 News at the pumps.
He runs a landscape business and said he may have to pass along fuel expenses to his customers if something doesn’t change to start bringing prices down.
“I don’t want to increase prices with my customers because I’ve had them for like a very long time, but it’s going to get to that point soon,” Lorey said.
From Washington, D.C., to Tallahassee, federal and state lawmakers have been talking about potential relief at the pumps by a temporary suspension of fuel taxes. President Donald Trump is asking Congress to pass a bill to temporarily do away with the roughly 18-cent-per-gallon federal fuel tax.
“I would vote for it if it came before us,” said Republican local Congressman Randy Fine, during a one-on-one interview with WESH 2 News.
Fine said a temporary suspension of federal fuel taxes might help, but the real solution is a permanent ceasefire in Iran, and a wide-open Strait of Hormuz to keep oil flowing.
“I hate that people are paying an extra $1 or $1.50 per gallon, but what I tell people is, think how expensive it would be if Iran detonated a nuclear weapon in the city of Orlando. And that is what we’re up against,” Fine said.
Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis this week, during a news conference in Jacksonville, said he would sign a Bill to give drivers a break on the roughly 38-cent state gasoline tax.
Such a bill could be filed for a special session on property taxes in June or July. But DeSantis warns that a study of the one-month gas tax holiday in October 2022 revealed most retailers just increased their prices.
DeSantis further explained, “If they (the Legislature) put that gas tax holiday in, I’ll happily sign it, but I don’t want to promise people that if you do that, you’ll suddenly see a huge change for the positive, in the price.”
DeSantis also said this week he would entertain a Bill to bring back toll road rebates for commuters. It proved successful in generating savings of several hundred dollars annually for Floridians with transponders in their vehicles, but the program expired in May 2025.