Stephen Passaha
👤 SpeakerAppearances Over Time
Podcast Appearances
Potholes cost drivers billions of dollars in repairs each year.
Patrick Marshall knows what that's like after hitting a dip in New Orleans.
The entire wheel almost fell off the truck completely.
What the federal gas tax brings in is not enough to pay for all road repairs.
But Rob Bott with LendingTree says anytime you cut highway maintenance funding...
State gas taxes are usually higher.
Some states like Georgia have paused theirs.
That means more savings for drivers, but less money for road repairs.
So far, the average refund is about 11% higher than this time last year, about $350 more according to data from the IRS.
Michael Pierce with Oxford Economics expects that average will go up.
That's because higher income filers typically procrastinate on filing and seem to be benefiting more from the new tax changes.
While the deadline to file is Wednesday, you can request an extension and move the deadline until October 15th.
But you should still pay any taxes you think you'll owe Wednesday to avoid having to pay penalties.
Consumers so far are weathering this gasoline shock quite comfortably.
They're still finding room to spend on the nice-to-have parts of their baskets.
Nationally, a gallon of regular gas at the pump now costs, on average, more than $4.
Not really all that much higher from what Americans were paying a week ago, just a few cents more.
But if you compare it to a month ago, before the war with Iran began, we are paying more than a dollar per gallon extra.