New Jersey drivers are about to get hit with a nearly 9% hike in the state’s gas tax — leaving them once again grappling with one of the highest rates in the country.
Thanks to legislation signed into law in 2024, the state — the only one in the nation to not allow self-service pumps — is raising its gas tax by 4.2 cents to 49.1 cents for gasoline and 56.1 cents for diesel Jan. 1.
The jump would average out to about $27 more per year per driver, for a total cost of $320 just for the state gas tax alone, according to the latest figures available, 2022.
“People in New Jersey are paying some of the highest gas tax rates in the country,” Alex Stevens, manager of policy and communications at the Institute for Energy Research, told The Post.
“If the state were to reduce it to the national average, which is around 33 cents, people in the state would be paying well below the national average today for gasoline.”
Despite having the eighth-highest gas tax rate of states in the country in 2025, New Jersey is actually in the middle of the pack in terms of overall gasoline costs, according to the Tax Foundation.
It has stayed in the middle lane even without allowing self-service pumps courtesy of a decades-old law originally aimed at protecting smaller gas stations and jobs and for safety concerns.
On New Year’s Eve, New Jerseyans were paying an average of $2.833 per gallon of gas, which was just a touch lower than the $2.839 national average, according to data from the American Automobile Association.
“Even with the high gas tax, you know, the gas prices in the state are mostly a consequence of just sort of the existing infrastructure that people have in New Jersey there,” Stevens said.
“The state is geographically kind of located close by places of high demand. So they built a lot there.”
Gas prices have been trending down across the country in recent weeks, dropping to pre-pandemic levels for the first time in about five years.
New Jersey’s increase is the result of legislation that outgoing Dem Gov. Phil Murphy signed in 2024 to jack up the tax in annual increments between 2025 and 2029.
One of the backers of that bill is Rep. Nellie Pou (D-NJ), who was in the state Senate at the time and is now in the US House.
“Another year, another cost-of-living increase for New Jersey families, and they have Nellie Pou to thank,” National Republican Congressional Committee spokeswoman Maureen O’Toole said.
“On January 1, higher gas prices will hit working people right in the wallet, and it’s the direct result of Nellie Pou’s long record of tax hikes that make everything from commuting to groceries more expensive.”
Pou’s camp did not respond to a Post request for comment.
Initially, the gas tax was supposed to go up by around 2 cents. It previously jumped up by 2.6 cents in 2025. But “because actual consumption has trended below last fiscal year’s levels,” the Garden State is getting a large spike in its gas tax this year to make up for the money difference.
The funds will go to help raise about $11 billion over a five-year stretch for key infrastructure projects for roads and bridges.
Stevens noted how the libertarian-leaning Reason Foundation ranked New Jersey 39th in terms of overall capital and bridge expenditures.
“Since the state’s gas tax is so high, it looks like the problem really in the state isn’t so much the money coming in,” Stevens said. “They’re collecting tons of revenue from the high gas tax, but it’s how the money is being spent going out where New Jersey ranks so poorly.”
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