Tax hike fuels jump in Indiana gas prices since last year

 (AP) — Indiana is heading into the Memorial Day weekend tied with California for the largest gas price increase in the U.S. over the past year, driven in part by a fuel tax increase enacted by the state’s Republican-dominated Legislature.

Filling up a tank in Indiana cost an average of 66 cents a gallon more last week compared to a year ago, rising to $2.84 a gallon — a 30 percent increase. The nation increased an average of 45 cents the past year to $2.81 a gallon, a 19 percent increase, and recent data from the American Automobile Association shows California’s 66-cent increase drove it to $3.63 a gallon, a 22 percent increase.

Indiana is among more than two-dozen states that use gas tax revenue in part to fund transportation infrastructure. Indiana’s tax increase was signed into law by Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb as part of a package of tax and fee increases that pumped money into upgrading the state’s crumbling roads and bridges. The law which effect last July increased the fuel tax from 18 cents to 28 cents, and ties that amount to inflation, so it could continue to increase up to 1 cent annually.