Ohio drivers could be paying more at the gas pump this summer. That's if lawmakers get their way proposing an 18 cent tax increase on every gallon and then using that money towards road improvements.

If approved, the tax would take effect in July, and the ripple effect could begin just as quickly.

"For somebody who is just getting by, putting jobs together in order to make ends meet, those pennies matter," said Karla Krodel, an administrator at YSU who has studied generational poverty.

Krodel calls the tax "disproportional" since it taxes the poor just as much as the wealthy.

She said a tax, even pennies on the dollar, could snowball for those at or below the poverty line if they're forced to choose gas over other necessities.

"I don't have the money for my prescription, so I cut the pills in half, and then I get sick, and I can't get to work, so I lose the job," said Krodel as a possible situation.

At the Second Harvest Food Bank, they note that much of the Valley can be considered a food desert, with few grocery stores, so traveling to a food bank or food pantry may take more planning.

"Be more sensitive to how they are traveling, where they are traveling and how many times they are traveling," said Second Harvest Food Bank Executive Director Mike Iberis.

And while those roads being traveled may not always easy to navigate, lawmakers are also on a bumpy ride working to finding a solution.