Every Californian knows that part of living in the Golden State involves our love affair with our cars and trucks. The state is known for its open roads, and residents relish the freedom those roads give us.
It’s a beautiful state, and we want to see and experience it.
The roads and highways may give us “freedom,” meaning the means to travel virtually anywhere we want to go, for business or for fun – BUT the one aspect of that which is not accurate is that the ability to travel those roads is not free, not by any means! As a matter of fact, it gets more expensive every year. It’s not that there are toll roads, at least not yet, but the fuel for our vehicles is expensive and gets more so every year.
The state is said to have the most expensive gasoline prices in the country, and they just increased again. The gas tax increased 8% on July 1, which means the total gas tax per gallon is now 57.9 cents.
The pump price averages $4.83 a gallon, but it varies higher and lower depending on the location in the state.
While people may gripe about the prices at the pump, they do not seem to have put a damper on plans to drive. As Patrick De Haan, head of Petroleum Analysis at GasBuddy, said, for the most part, motorists will just “grumble and take it.”
The weather having been pleasant, the roads were filed with travelers over the holiday – close to the projected 5.6 million drivers.
That’s a lot of people and a lot of gallons of fuel being used – and, a lot of money hauled in by the state in fuel taxes.
The gas tax increase is result of Senate Bill 1, which was passed in 2017. It raises the state gas tax annually, for the purpose of providing money for transportation improvements and maintenance over 10 years.
There was an effort to repeal the tax in 2018, but voters rejected the ballot measure. This year, there was an effort on the part of some lawmakers to reduce the gas tax increase. Assemblywoman Laurie Davies, a Republican, offered a bill to do that, but it didn’t get support from Assembly Democrats, and the measure was tabled without comment.
In addition to the increase in state gas tax, the gas price in California is affected by laws that require differing fuel blends intended to reduce smog. The blends vary seasonally, but each one increases the overall price per gallon to the consumer.
California drivers are also hit by increasing bridge tolls. The San Francisco Bay Area has eight bridges, and tolls are charged to enter the city – but not to leave. Tolls vary with commute times and weekends as well as the bridge location.
People were told when the bridges were built that when they were paid off, the tolls would end. That didn’t happen, and in fact, the tolls have increased over the years.
Residents remember when the tolls were 25 cents – I certainly do. Now, the toll for the bridges I would use are $6 to $8 – increasing for some of them, namely the golden Gate Bridge, to over $8.
Another of the changes in using the bridges is that there are no more “toll takers.” Drivers can have a transponder in their vehicle to record their crossing, and they will be billed. For those who do not have the transponder, a picture is taken of their license plate, and they are billed by mail for the toll. If they don’t pay it, the offense is treated like a traffic ticket and penalty.
As might be expected, politics plays a role in all this. With the increase in gas prices and the resistance of voters to put a stop to them, the governor raised the alleged issue of “price gouging” on the part of oil and gas companies. Gov. Gavin Newsom threatened the firms with the possibility of a windfall profit tax, but that hit a brick wall in the legislature. Fellow Democrats wouldn’t go along with the threat, worried that it would mean even higher prices at the pump.
They did agree on a new law that created a state Division of Petroleum Market Oversight. It’s meant to monitor the industry for market manipulation. At this point, no one knows what result that would have; it’s all too new.
One point that should be noted is that in the past, state investigations on gas prices have not turned up any industry malfeasance, which is good for the companies and not so good for Democrats looking for problems and blame.
Patrick De Haan reacted to Newsom’s moves, commenting that while the governor “demonizes the oil and gas industry over high prices, the state is taking its fair share as well.”
Indeed – those gas pumps and traveling Californians are a money machine for the state, and there doesn’t seem to be an end to it.
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