Californians are Outraged Over the Gas Tax Hike Bill

Just a few weeks ago, Gov. Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill 1, hiking up taxes on gas in the state of California. 

This bill officially made California the U.S. state with the highest gas tax. 

Brown claimed that the tax hike was needed to improve the state’s roads. 

“The Republicans in Sacramento want to fix our roads. They love the idea,” said Brown about the bill. “They just don’t want to be associated with the bill because it has money in it. I think they expect the tooth fairy to pay the $5 billion every year.”

However, republicans are already on a mission to repeal the bill claiming that it needs to be voted on by the state’s citizens. 

“Assemblyman Travis Allen, R-Huntington Beach, filed paperwork last week seeking a 2018 ballot measure to overturn SB 1, a 10-year, $52.4 billion transportation funding bill narrowly passed by the Legislature in April,” writes The Press- Enterprise. “The bill, also known as the Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017, raises the state’s gas tax by 12 cents a gallon, boosts taxes on diesel fuel and imposes new annual fees on vehicles to tackle a road repair backlog exceeding $130 billion.”

“I’ve seen a lot of crazy laws come through that were pushed by Jerry Brown,” said Allen.“But when … Jerry Brown tried to pass the largest gas tax increase in California history without a vote of the people, I decided that something had to be done.”

This tax increase comes after Gov. Brown promised in the past to have Californians vote on any future tax increases.

“In 2010, Jerry Brown said, ‘there should be no tax increases without a vote of the people.’ Repealing the gas tax will simply help him keep his promise to California voters,” said Allen in a press release. 

Allen also points out that the bill won’t offer a solution to the state’s traffic and poor road condition problem. 

“Adding insult to injury, this massive new tax will not build any new roads, and it will do nothing to fix California’s worst in the nation traffic. In fact, Brown’s new gas tax legislation actually has specific language that will reduce lane capacity and increase traffic,” said Allen in a press release.

Allen also stated that California voters are outraged by the bill.  

“The California voters were absolutely left out of the loop,” said Allen. “There was certainly not substantive buy-in from the California people, who, according to all of the polling data, are overwhelmingly against raising gas taxes.”

The tax increase is supposed be in effect starting November 1, but the backlash from Californians has been significant. 

“We’ve gotten a tremendous response,” said John Kobylt, host of “John and Ken” on KFI-AM in Los Angeles, who supports a recall of the Senate Bill 1. “It’s more response than we’ve gotten on anything in several years.”

Author’s note: California voters have a right to be outraged over this bill, since the state already has the highest state taxes in the country at 13.3%. How can Brown make a case that there should be even more? At least, republicans are trying to reverse it.