<p>Just a few weeks ago, Gov. Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill 1, hiking up taxes on gas in the state of California. ;</p>
<p>This bill officially made California the U.S. state with the highest gas tax. ;</p>
<p>Brown claimed that the tax hike was needed to improve the state&#8217;s roads. ;</p>
<p>&ldquo;The Republicans in Sacramento want to fix our roads. They love the idea,&rdquo; said Brown about the bill. &ldquo;They just don&rsquo;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.&rdquo;</p>
<p>However, republicans are already on a mission to repeal the bill claiming that it needs to be voted on by the state&#8217;s citizens. ;</p>
<p>&#8220;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,&#8221; writes The Press- Enterprise. &#8220;The bill, also known as the Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017, raises the state&rsquo;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.&#8221;</p>
<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve seen a lot of crazy laws come through that were pushed by Jerry Brown,&rdquo; said Allen.&ldquo;But when &hellip; 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.&rdquo;</p>
<p>This tax increase comes after Gov. Brown promised in the past to have Californians vote on any future tax increases.</p>
<p>&ldquo;In 2010, Jerry Brown said, &lsquo;there should be no tax increases without a vote of the people.&rsquo; Repealing the gas tax will simply help him keep his promise to California voters,&rdquo; said Allen in a press release. ;</p>
<p>Allen also points out that the bill won&#8217;t offer a solution to the state&#8217;s traffic and poor road condition problem. ;</p>
<p>&ldquo;Adding insult to injury, this massive new tax will not build any new roads, and it will do nothing to fix California&rsquo;s worst in the nation traffic. In fact, Brown&rsquo;s new gas tax legislation actually has specific language that will reduce lane capacity and increase traffic,&#8221; said Allen in a press release.</p>
<p>Allen also stated that California voters are outraged by the bill.  ;</p>
<p>&ldquo;The California voters were absolutely left out of the loop,&rdquo; said Allen. &ldquo;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.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The tax increase is supposed be in effect starting November 1, but the backlash from Californians has been significant. ;</p>
<p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve gotten a tremendous response,&rdquo; said John Kobylt, host of &ldquo;John and Ken&rdquo; on KFI-AM in Los Angeles, who supports a recall of the Senate Bill 1. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s more response than we&rsquo;ve gotten on anything in several years.&rdquo;</p>
<p><strong>Author&#8217;s note:</strong> 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.</p>