Check the Facts Gov. Evers fought to lower gas tax

The Lie: Rebecca Kleefisch and Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce claim Gov. Evers tried to raise taxes at the pump.

The Truth: Republicans are taking Gov. Evers’ proposals out of context because they haven’t got a leg to stand on when it comes to lowering costs for Wisconsinites. The truth is Gov. Tony Evers has been fighting to lower costs for Wisconsinites at the pump, starting with calling on President Biden and Congress to suspend the federal gas tax and repealing the state’s minimum markup law on gas.

Earlier this year, Gov. Evers joined governors across the country in urging Congress to pass the Gas Tax Relief Act, which would suspend the federal gas tax, saving consumers up to 18.4 cents per gallon.

• WMTV: Evers urges U.S. government to suspend the federal gas tax
• Channel 3000: Evers, four other governors, urge Congress to suspend federal gas tax
• WFRV: Gov. Evers urges suspension of federal gas tax
• WKOW: Evers calls for suspension of federal gas tax
• WBAY: Wisconsin Gov. Evers among Democrats calling for suspension of federal gas tax
• WDJT: Evers urges Congress to suspend federal gas tax as Wisconsinites see rising costs at the pumps
• TMJ4: Governor Tony Evers calls on President Biden and Congress to give drivers a ‘gas tax holiday’

This isn’t the only action Gov. Evers has tried to take. In 2019, he also proposed repealing the minimum markup law, a hidden tax that’s passed onto consumers at the pump. x. Wisconsin’s minimum markup law costs consumers an extra 9% at the pump [Associated Press, 8/23/16].

Data from U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates based on total markup, if Gov. Evers’ plan was adopted, consumers would have saved money on gas. 

• Wisconsin State Journal: Tony Evers proposes 8-cent-a-gallon gas tax increase, but price at pump could be lower
• Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Gov. Tony Evers seeks to raise gas tax by 8 cents a gallon while reducing the overall price at the pump

Republicans rejected Gov. Evers’ proposal, despite studies showing repealing this law would have resulted in lower costs for Wisconsinites. Repealing the minimum markup on fuel has been heralded as a cost-saving measure for consumers by stakeholders on both sides of the aisle.

• According to a study conducted by the Coalition for Lower Gas Prices — which included government, nonprofit, and business stakeholders — the minimum markup law costs consumers more than $1 million a day.
• In 2009, an economist from UW-Whitewater estimated consumers could save about 12 cents on a $1.95 gallon of gas by repealing the minimum markup on gas. This was echoed again during the biennial budget process when a UW-Eau Claire economics professor indicated that the governor’s plan to repeal minimum markup with a gas tax increase would essentially even out.  
• The conservative group Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, for example, previously studied the minimum markup law prior to Gov. Evers taking office, and supported the governor’s repeal of minimum markup for gas, calling it an “easy way to cut prices at the grocery store, gas station, or the pharmacy” that “could immediately put more money back into the pockets of hard-working Wisconsinites all over the state.”

PolitiFact Wisconsin has called out WMC for taking Gov. Evers’ proposal out of context, saying “The inclusion of the elimination of the minimum markup law for gasoline in the plan undermines the idea that Evers was trying to make consumers pay more.” [PolitiFact, 4/1/22]

Not only are Republicans lying about Gov. Evers’ proposal to lower the cost of gas, they’re also lying to consumers about their own agenda. Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce — the GOP dark money group running ads against Gov. Evers — supported raising the gas tax in their 2021-22 legislative agenda. WMC’s proposal did not include any measures to offset this increase — meaning under their plan, consumers would have had to pay more at the pump. [Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce 2021-2022 Legislative Agenda]