Gas and diesel prices rose at the worst possible time for drivers in the US and these states are being affected most

Thomson Reuters

• Gas and diesel taxes went up in a handful of US states on July 1.
• Those increases are happening in California, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Vermont.
• There are various reasons for the hikes, depending on the state, but they are primarily meant to help fund maintenance and improvements for roads, bridges and other infrastructure around the country.
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Gas and diesel taxes have risen in 12 states, most prominently in Illinois, Ohio, and California.

Connecticut, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Montana, Nebraska, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Vermont have also implemented hikes. There are various reasons for the increases, depending on the state, but they are primarily meant to help fund maintenance and improvements for roads, bridges and other transportation infrastructure around the country.

For some states, the gas tax increase has been long delayed. Some states have postponed this increase for several years due to the political challenges, Carl Davis, a research director at the Institute of Taxation and Economic Policy, told Business Insider. Davis is an expert in transportation infrastructure funding.

"Lawmakers don't want to take a vote to raise the price of gas, but at the same time, drivers don't want to drive over an unsafe bridge or hit a pothole or be stuck in a traffic congestion," Davis said. "There are inevitable tradeoffs here, and navigating these tradeoffs can be tricky."

These are the states that have increased their gas tax rates: