State Gas Tax Expected To Rise 

Members of the West Virginia House of Delegates are back in Charleston this week for two days of interim meetings.   

The House Finance committee held a broad-reaching interim meeting Monday that touched on topics ranging from changes to SNAP benefits, to construction of the state’s consolidated lab project and the state gas tax.   

Del. Kayla Young, D-Kanawha, asked for an explanation on how the state tax on gasoline is set. Pete Shirley, deputy revenue secretary, explained that while there is a fixed component of the tax set at 20 and a half cents per gallon, part of the tax is variable. 

“Tax will look at the average wholesale fuel price from July 1 until Oct. 30, and then on Dec. 1 they will say ‘What is 5% of that average wholesale price?’” he said. “Whatever 5% of that is then becomes the variable component for the following year, but that variable component must be at least 15.2 cents per gallon.” 

Shirley said that last year’s average wholesale price was sufficiently low to be at that minimum. AAA estimates that the state’s average retail price for a gallon of gas last year was just over $3.  

According to Shirley, West Virginia’s tax rate is in the middle compared to its regional neighbors with Kentucky and Virginia lower at 26.4 cents and 30.8 cents, respectively and Maryland, Ohio and Pennsylvania set higher at 47 cents, 38 and a half cents and 57.6 cents per gallon, respectively. 

Young expressed concern that gas prices are expected to go up during the state’s observational period, or at the very least not come down for at least 12 months.  

“We’ve got an average of $4.50 right now in West Virginia,” she said. “That’s the retail price, not the wholesale price. We will expect the gas tax to go up based on what we’re seeing happening right now.”  

Asked if there was anything the legislature could do to stop an increased gas tax, Shirley said that the legislature would have to change state code.  

With the start of the U.S. war with Iran coming at the tail end of the 2026 regular legislative session, West Virginia Democrats have called on Gov. Patrick Morrisey on more than one occasion to call a special session to declare a gas tax holiday.