While politicians in at least a half-dozen states, including Florida, Missouri and New York, talk about providing relief from sky-high gasoline and diesel prices by reining in fuel taxes, only one state has done it so far Georgia.

Gov. Sonny Perdue signed an executive order suspending a scheduled increase in Georgias tax collected on fuel purchases that was due to take effect July 1. The action will result in a loss of as much as $80 million in state revenue for roads during the next year.

Georgia law requires the state Department of Revenue to recalculate the state excise tax and sales tax on motor fuels every six months to adjust for changes in prices. The excise tax is 7.5 cents per gallon with the sales tax charged on top of that.

With fuel prices hovering around $4 per gallon across the state, fuel tax rates were set to increase in July. The diesel tax was slated to move up 4.2 cents per gallon, while the gas tax was expected to be bumped up by 2.9 cents per gallon.

Perdue said suspending the tax hike not only will benefit drivers but also "benefit some of our most important industries."

This marks the second time in three years state taxes on fuel have been frozen in Georgia. Perdue first suspended collection of state fuel taxes for one month in the fall of 2005, following Hurricane Katrina when pump prices topped $3 per gallon.

The governors latest order remains in place until the legislature convenes in January.

Although few states appear eager to follow Georgias lead, fuel taxes generally were stable during the first quarter of this year.

Only six states saw increases, with the higher tax rates resulting from automatic price escalators adopted by those states years ago.

There were diesel fuel tax increases in Michigan, Minnesota, Virginia and Washington.

In Nebraska, the state tax on fuels goes up 1.2 cents per gallon July 1 as a result of a bill adopted by the legislature earlier this year.

The bill also changed the mechanism for fuel tax collections in Nebraska to include an excise tax.