Add The California Post on Google Congratulations, California motorists.
You get to pay more to drive on the same crumbling, crowded roads.
The state’s excise tax on gasoline, at 61.2 cents per gallon, surges to 63.4 cents per gallon on July 1.
And that’s aside from a range of other taxes and fees that Sacramento pumps into fuel –– including sales taxes and climate fees –– that drive the total taxes on gasoline in California to an estimated $1.20 per gallon.
Meanwhile, on the horizon: perpetual annual gas-tax hikes.
Former Gov. Jerry Brown and the Legislature in 2017 adopted SB 1, a measure that raises the state’s gas tax every July 1 based on inflation.
The legislation also hiked the state’s base gasoline excise tax by 12 cents a gallon, increased the diesel tax and inflated vehicle registration fees, with with proceeds earmarked for transportation projects.
The governor and legislators said the tax receipts would refurbish state roads in dire need of repair.
In a true exhibition of the gap between rhetoric and reality, Brown said at the time:
“Tonight we’re building things. That’s common sense, that’s the spirit of Harry Truman and that’s the spirit of the Democratic Party. Proud to be a part of it.”
Have you noticed Truman-esque improvements over the past decade or so?
In the Reason Foundation’s 29th Annual Highway Report, released in March, California ranked 49th out of 50, besting only Alaska for state highway performance.
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The automatic tax escalator offers a tidy way for legislators to avoid having to actually vote each year on a gas-tax-hike proposal.
It’s easier to shrug and say it’s automatic than to examine why the state has the highest gas taxes and fees in the US while its highways routinely rank among the nation’s worst for pavement condition and congestion.
Moreover: Legislators and Gov. Gavin Newsom could suspend the automatic gas-tax hikes at any time, through new legislation.
Gas-tax pain has become a California summer mainstay, alongside high inland heat and June gloom hear the coast.
