Democratic governors in Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Pennsylvania and New Mexico last week sent a letter to congressional leaders urging a suspension of the federal gas tax through the end of the year.

“We need to do all we can to put money back in people’s pockets,” Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer said in a tweet.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the administration is “looking at a range of things that we might do to relieve consumers of the gas tax.”

“There’s a concern in cutting the gas tax that much of the benefit of it -- especially when supplies are very tight -- would go to oil companies,” she told reporters at an event in Denver on Friday.

Motorists in California, where the taxes are highest, face a total per-gallon tax of 86.55 cents. That includes a state excise tax of 51.1 cents per gallon and 17.05 cents per gallon in other state taxes, in addition to the federal gas tax.

As recently as last year, some lawmakers were considering increasing the federal gas tax to help close a yawning gap in federal highway funding that is estimated to be as high as $13 billion before the passage of a $550 billion infrastructure bill by Congress last year.

That’s because the Highway Trust Fund, which pays for roadway and transit systems, is financed primarily through the federal gas tax. That only brings in $43 billion per year while federal spending topped $56 billion annually before the $550 billion infrastructure bill was passed in November 2021, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

The highway trust fund has not been able to sustain itself from gas tax collections since 2008. Lawmakers have routinely transferred billions from other areas of the federal budget to close the gap, including $118 billion that was included in the bipartisan infrastructure bill that was approved by Congress last year.

Jim Tymon, executive director of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, said the gas tax frequently becomes a target of politicians at times when drivers are feeling the pinch at the pump. He warned drivers might not see any savings at the pump even if the federal gas tax is suspended because oil companies might pocket the extra proceeds, however.

“While inflation is a problem we clearly need to address, there’s no guarantee savings would be passed onto consumers,” he said.