Every week I pull up to the gas station and wonder the same thing: how did we get here, and why does it keep getting worse?

North Carolinians are spending more on gas than residents of most neighboring states, and it is not simply a matter of global oil markets. Our state gas tax ranks among the highest in the Southeast, and that cost falls hardest on the people who can least afford it — hourly workers, rural families, and small business owners who have no choice but to drive.

The average North Carolina household spends over $3,000 a year on fuel. For a family earning $45,000, that is not a minor inconvenience. It is a real constraint on every other decision they make — groceries, healthcare, school supplies. When gas prices rise, everything else follows. Delivery costs go up. Local businesses raise prices. And working families quietly absorb it all.

What frustrates me most is the silence from Raleigh. Our legislators are quick to talk about economic growth, but painfully slow to address the structural costs burdening everyday North Carolinians. There are real policy options on the table — temporary suspensions of the state fuel tax during price spikes, relief programs tied to income thresholds, or at minimum a public accounting of where that gas tax revenue actually goes.

The roads in my county are still in poor shape, so I know it is not all going to infrastructure.

I am not asking for perfection. I am asking for acknowledgment that real people are struggling with a cost that has become a fixture of anxiety in this state. A little honesty from our elected officials — and a genuine effort to find relief — would go a long way.