California raises gas taxes, vehicle fees to fund roads and transport projects

[cuts_off_prius]

Significant changes coming for California drivers. California is actually known for having some of the highest gas prices in the nation. According to politifact, this would make California have the second highest gas tax in the nation, trailing Pennsylvania. I'm fine with that, just hope they bring the changes they promise in road and transport infrastructure. Another interesting thing to note is that the Honda Civic is the best selling car in the state of California, while much larger cars dominate most of the country. Gas prices certainly play a role in this.

California Raises Gas Taxes, Vehicle Fees to Fund Road Repairs - Motor Trend

CALIFORNIA RAISES GAS TAXES, VEHICLE FEES TO FUND ROAD REPAIRS

Kelly Pleskot Words

April 30, 2017



Bill will cost drivers less than $10 per month, Brown says

California has approved a bill that will increase gas taxes and vehicle fees to fund transportation projects across the state.

On Friday, California Governor Jerry Brown signed off on a bill that will raise $5.2 billion a year for mass transit initiatives as well as road and bridge repairs. The bill ushers in the first gas tax increase the state has seen in 23 years.

The base excise tax will increase 12 cents per gallon on gasoline and 20 cents per gallon on diesel fuel. A variable excise tax is set at 17 cents. The gas and diesel taxes take effect November 1, but it won’t be until 2020 that electric car owners will pay $100 in lieu of a gas tax every year.

Annual vehicle fees will increase anywhere from $25 to $175 depending on the value of the car. This measure goes into effect January 1, 2018. According to Brown, the new taxes and fees should set most drivers back less than $10 per month.

Over the next 10 years, California expects to raise $52 billion, of which $34 million will go toward repairing roads, bridges, highways, and culverts, while $7 billion is earmarked for mass transit. Expect improvements along the 14 freeway in Santa Clarita, the 170 freeway in the San Fernando Valley, and the 605 between the 10 and 210, reports the Los Angeles Times. Bridges along the 5, 710, and 210 will also receive repairs.

“Safe and smooth roads make California a better place to live and strengthen our economy,” Brown said. “This legislation will put thousands of people to work.”

Meanwhile, Republicans aren’t having it. “Gov. Brown and Capitol Democrats just gave us the largest gas tax increase in state history—a deal so bad they needed $1 billion in pork to buy the votes to pass it. California deserves better,” Assembly Republican leader Chad Mayes said in a statement.

[Draigflag]

Sounds similar to the system we have here. Despite that we pay around 60-70% tax on fuel alone, we also have an annual tax bill per vehicle. It used to be called road tax, now it's called vehicle excise duty. It used to be based on engine size, then carbon dioxide emissions, now it's more or less the same fee for everyone £140 per year for cars registered after April 2017. Although these taxes are supposed to be used on road maintenance etc, recent reports suggest very little of the generated revenue actually goes towards fixing the UK'S roads. Just another silly tax, people hate taxes...

[LDB]

Governor Dumber Than Dirt Liberal Moron Moonbeam is involved so you can count on it being a debacle and not doing what it's supposed to.

[R.I.D.E.]

Remember when the Federal Income Tax was as high as 93%? Latest count was there are close to 100 different taxes and no one can name the number they pay, at least in the USA. We're too worried about useless BS.

[trollbait]

Throw in what we pay for healthcare, and we can be paying as much as in Europe.

[ChewChewTrain]

The gov't will find a way to "embezzle" portions of this transportation tax for other projects, as they have ALREADY done with the gas tax $$$ they've already hijacked. The gov't is basically a sanctioned, organized mafia.

[R.I.D.E.]

It takes little effort to figure out which state-federal gov't confiscates the most wealth from it's citizens. A recent example is Connecticut which passed recent legislation to increase tax revenues. Problem was the revenues dropped significantly instead of rising, one more time, to subsidize their inefficiency.

The wealth producers just relocate to more tax friendly states, or even more to other countries, leaving a wasteland of subsidized impoverished communities with no revenue base to drain of wealth.

The result, economic wastelands, bankruptcy, corruption and crime. I remember reading about property taxes in Michigan, reaching something like 5%. That's $30k a year on a $500k home. Where I grew up the property taxes are almost twice as high as where I live now and those with any assets are moving out leaving welfare wastelands, or whole ex-neighborhoods razed to the ground by local governments.
$1.25 per hundred property taxes, 13.5% meals taxes, health care subsidies, all add to the cost of living-doing business in that metropolitan area. Business driven out of communities that are run by beaurocrats that have no checks on their power, who retire expecting to receive their pensions while poverty overruns neighborhoods.

Think Detroit

[LDB]

Detroit, one among many. Anywhere the democrats/left/liberals/pick your label are in charge devolves into a violent purgatory unfit for decent citizens. Chicago is well on it's way although being so large it will take longer for the cancer of the left to overwhelm it.

[Jcp385]

California already has a large enough tax base with high enough fuel taxes and DMV fees to do what it wants to do. It's a matter or priorities, and roads haven't been one. There's no reason that would change because of higher levies.

[SteveMak]

Here, in Ontario, Canada, about 1/3 of the price of fuel is various taxes, and then at the pump, you pay an additional 13% "Harmonized Sales Tax (HST)", on top of the existing taxes. Yes, that's tax on tax!

Additionally, we pay a tire tax that was supposed to be used for environmental purposes after the infamous Hagarsville Tire Dump Fire, which burned for 17 days, and caused horrendous environmental damage from the toxic smoke and contaminated water runoff. That happened 25 years ago. Not one cent of the tax has gone to environmental causes.

We also pay a "recycling fee" when purchasing an electronic device, like a TV or smartphone. You guessed it: Not one cent of tax collected has gone to anything to do with recycling.