As if gas prices weren’t high enough in California, the gas tax is going up again on July 1.
An annual inflation adjustment was part of the transportation tax package pushed through the Legislature and signed by Gov. Jerry Brown in 2017. The law known as SB 1 added 12 cents to the per-gallon cost of gasoline on November 1, 2017, then another 5.6 cents on July 1, 2019, and 3.2 cents more last July 1. The next upward adjustment will bring the California excise tax on gas to 51.1 cents per gallon. SB 1 also increased the taxes on diesel fuel and raised the cost of registering a vehicle.
California has the highest gas taxes in the nation. According to the American Petroleum Institute, the state’s taxes and fees add 63.05 cents to the price of a gallon of gasoline. Including federal taxes, Californians pay 81.45 cents per gallon in government-imposed charges. It’s even higher for diesel fuel, with total state taxes and fees of 83.06 cents per gallon, 107.46 cents when federal taxes are added.
So Californians are paying a lot in taxes, but how much are we getting in road repair and maintenance?
According to a study by the Reason Foundation in November, 28.5% of California’s urban roads are in poor condition, the third-worst ranking in the country. Nationally, only 12.06% of pavement, on average, earns the ranking of “poor.”
That’s based on data on road conditions collected in 2018, when California had a massive backlog of deferred maintenance. The state’s long habit of collecting fuel taxes but not delivering on the promised road maintenance has helped to fuel distrust of government. During a 2018 campaign to repeal the gas tax hike, Caltrans showed voters a website with a list of projects and promised that those projects would be completed.
Now, unsurprisingly, Caltrans says it doesn’t have enough money to finish all the projects that were promised up and down the state. In a report to the California Transportation Commission, Caltrans said “the available funding will address about 45% of the total identified needs.”
The Reason Foundation report notes that while the national average cost of road maintenance in 2018 was $15,952 per mile, California pays about twice that much due to labor laws that require the highest wages in the region, and also due to the generally high costs in the state. California taxpayers pay the highest possible price for everything the government builds or maintains.
Caltrans says it has been able to improve 6,400 lane miles of pavement over the last three years, a rate of repair it claims is 40% better than before the tax increase of SB 1.
Republican lawmakers serving on the Legislature’s transportation committees were not impressed. Sen. Patricia Bates, R-Laguna Niguel, called it “an insult to California’s drivers to force them to pay the nation’s highest gas taxes and then say it’s not enough.” Assemblyman Vince Fong, R-Bakersfield, said, “taxpayers have done their part.”
They’re right.
California taxpayers have once again found themselves stuck with higher taxes, lackluster results and now they’ll soon have to pay even more.
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And this is a red state.
‘What do you people not understand? You vote these ignoramus Dems into office and look what you get. What are you not seeing?”
My family hasn’t voted for Dems in years, I live in a Republican district and none of that matters. There are more dems in office in California than any other party.
Hey, SoCalGal—I know that every single person in CA is not a wacko and doesn’t vote for these morons, so my comment is directed towards the Libs. Sorry your folks and others like them are having to endure. Hopefully, the tide will turn.
THAT is why i support “BREAK UP CA” movements.. SEPARATE it into 3 states. the entirety of LA, San fran and Sicromento becomes one, and the REST of the state becomes a second.
That way the SANE conservatives NOT LIVING IN LA or San fran, can no longer have their voices DROWNED OUT By the libtards running the entirety of LA/SF..
If you voted for demos! you asked for more worthless dollars.
Son Of Thunder
“And this is a red state.”
Red = Republican
Blue = Democrat = Rule and Ruin.
This will not only cause poorer people issues at the pump BUT it will cause an increase in food and other consumer goods prices as those who move the product to market will be paying more and adding those costs to the price of goods.
WHICH will DOUBLY IMPACT the poor.. Cause they will have to drive around MORE To try and et better deals on food..
FDR opposed public-sector unions. He said it constituted two sides negotiating from the same side of the table against the absent taxpayer.
ONE OF the biggest reasons, i would LOVE TO GET RID OF EVERY DAMN union out there.
OH AND that includes doing away with College TENURE!
Every drop of gas in Hawaii is delivered on ships.
I just regurned from the Big Island, where 87-octane gas was $3.91. The same grade in LA was $4.29.
None of the gas in California is delivered on ships.
And the roads on the Big Island are in better condition.
If you think CalTrans is sniveling now about not soaking us enough for road repair, wait until Democrats’ wet dream about only electric cars kicks in, and nobody is paying for road repairs, according to how much they drive, at the rusted-out unused gas pumps.
I’ve often found it strange, how HAWAII, which has most of what it uses, shipped in, is LOWER PRICED than CA…
Let all of the liberals move to communist California. Let the liberals have Haiti.
AND then build the border wall, up to SEAL CA OFF from the rest of america…
Understand that not all of us here are lefties. Without help from ????? we don’t stand a chance. Any ideas on how to take back this once wonderful state I am all ears
That’s why i keep saying, SPLIT CA INTO TWO STATES.. LA/San fran/Sacremento in one. AND THE REST of the state in the other.. SO the leftists who CONGREGATE IN THOSE three cities/counties, don’t keep OVERRULING the rest of the folks there.
Do you really think Gerry Brown actually won 4 terms in office? Pelosi and her ilk perfected election fraud here then used it to take out President Trump. Now the recall of Newsome will never happen because Brown signed a bill making it almost impossible to recall a democrat. Building a wall to keep California from spreading the plague is a great idea, 30 years ago. I am born and raised here and do not plan on going any where else but it is a hopeless fight. Pelosi has to go but they have every election rigged. Its racist to require voter ID but an ID is required to buy liquor, cash a check, board a plane, and on and on. You need an ID to get a fishing license. They send all our water south killing our fishery. I am waiting for LA to fall into the sea, the only chance we have to take back the state, Pelosi is SATAN.