North Carolina Senate leader Phil Berger has reversed course, throwing his support behind a legislative push to temporarily halt the state’s gas tax—just months after dismissing a similar concept as an ineffective gimmick.
Berger joined fellow Republican lawmakers in championing a measure to suspend the state’s 41-cent-per-gallon fuel tax through November. The proposal swiftly cleared the Legislature with bipartisan backing and now sits on the desk of Democratic Gov. Josh Stein, who has 10 days to sign it, issue a veto, or allow it to become law without his signature.
The sudden shift drew sharp criticism from Democratic opponents, who pointed out the glaring inconsistency in Berger’s stance.
“As recently as this past May, when gas prices were significantly high, just like today, Phil Berger told all of us that suspending the gas tax was ‘more of a feel-good kind of thing,’” Minority Leader Sydney Batch, D-Wake, stated during a press briefing. “Suddenly, gas prices are an emergency. What changed? It’s certainly not your gas prices. Perhaps it’s the reality that they’re 27 days away from being sent packing by the voters.”
With all 170 seats in the General Assembly up for grabs in November and voting already underway—including absentee ballots and upcoming early voting—the political stakes are high. Republicans have maintained a firm grip on the Legislature for nearly a decade, but midterms polling indicates Democrats have their strongest opening in years to challenge that dominance.
Amid falling approval ratings for President Donald Trump and persistent voter anxiety over inflation and high living costs, affordability remains a defining issue of the campaign season.
To evaluate how far Berger’s position has traveled, his past and present statements on fuel tax relief offer a clear timeline of his shifting rationale.
From ‘Temporary Gimmicks’ to a ‘Feel-Good’ Dismissal
When pump prices spiked nationwide following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, President Joe Biden proposed a three-month federal gas and diesel tax holiday to ease the burden on drivers.
At the time, Berger’s communications director, Lauren Horsch, rejected the idea, stating that the Biden administration should instead focus on changing its broader economic policies. “Instead of these temporary gimmicks, we should focus on permanent, long-term tax relief and reining in inflation,” Horsch said in June 2022, noting that the sentiment also applied to state-level tax rebate proposals floated by Democrats.
That reluctance persisted into this year. Following military actions in the Middle East earlier in the year, U.S. gas prices climbed from under $3 a gallon to $4.49 by mid-May. When reporters asked Berger on May 19 if a gas tax pause was under consideration, he was skeptical. “It strikes me that that’s more of a feel-good kind of thing than something that actually would make a whole lot of difference with reference to individuals,” he said at the time.
Answering the Call for ‘Real Relief’
Fast-forward to October, when Berger and House Speaker Destin Hall announced they were calling a special legislative session to tackle fuel costs.
“North Carolina families and farmers are feeling the impacts of rising fuel costs every day,” Berger said in a social media announcement. “They need real relief and they need it now.”
Ahead of the Senate vote, Berger defended the about-face, noting an overwhelming wave of concern from constituents, families navigating daily commutes, small business owners, and the agricultural community.
Accountability on the Flip-Flop
When questioned by fact-checkers about his previous dismissal in May, Berger initially argued that public pressure had intensified because gas prices were over $4—apparently unaware that the U.S. average had actually hit $4.49 the day before his May remarks, and remained roughly comparable to current state averages.
Presented with the historical pricing data, Berger expanded on his reasons for moving forward, pointing to mounting pressure from the farming sector and a newly reached consensus among lawmakers on how to pause the tax without draining the state Department of Transportation’s road-improvement budget.
While Berger maintained that his 2022 criticism of federal tax holidays still stood, his timeline reveals a distinct pivot.
The Verdict
In May, Phil Berger brushed off North Carolina gas tax relief as a superficial gesture that wouldn’t move the needle for consumers. Today, he is spearheading a bipartisan push to enact that exact suspension right before a critical midterm election—despite fuel prices remaining nearly identical to what they were in the spring.
Because this represents a direct and substantial contradiction in policy positions under nearly the exact same economic conditions, the shift is classified as a complete reversal.