CA Gas Tax Goes Up Again…Now 16% Of The Cost Of A Gallon Of Gasoline

Just in time for the summer season, and after gasoline prices in California have gone up 38 cents a gallon, rising 53 out of the past 57 days,  they are going up again.

And you can thank the California Legislature which pushed through a large gas tax increase in 2017 and installed automatic annual gas tax increases as well.

The increase 3.2 cents per gallon.  The gas tax in California is 50.5 cents per gallon, which is one-sixth of the price of a gallon of gas, or 16.6%.

The tax is the result of Senate Bill 1, which was passed in 2017.

SB-1 automatically boosts the gas tax every year in line with increases in the consumer price index.

The gas tax is projected to bring in about seven-billion-dollars this fiscal year to pay for road maintenance and repairs.

But lawmakers have raided the gas tax kitty in the past, using the money for pet projects and social welfare programs unrelated to road repairs.

Currently, lawmakers are taking the interest that accrues on the money in the gas tax account and spending it on something other than roads.

Photo from Alpha Media USA Portland OR