I’m not saying anything we don’t already know when I say California’s gas prices are too darn high. It’s a secret everyone knows, and now the supermajority wants to make things even worse with a “secret gas tax.”
The governor’s administration and California Air Resources Board (CARB) – the unelected body of regulators that he appoints and controls – is considering the adoption of two items that would have the complete opposite effect. In fact, they would add an estimated 47 cents to prices at the pump next year. The increase estimated for 2026 is 52 cents.
Californians already pay $1.43 in state and federal taxes and fees per gallon of gasoline. CARB’s additional, newly proposed taxes, plus the annual inflationary adjustment effective July 1, 2024, means Californians will pay $1.92 in taxes next year and $1.97 in 2026.
The two items intend to tighten the Low Carbon Fuel Standard program (LCFS), CARB’s already costly and burdensome program to reduce carbon emissions by discouraging the production and consumption of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel in California. The price increases would be annual, a variable amount of anywhere between 25 cents and $1.83, and would come on top of the already existing gas taxes that increase every July.
Yes, even as the cost-of-living in California has people fleeing the state in droves, it appears as if the supermajority is intentionally raising gas prices.
Those soaring gas prices, coupled with skyrocketing prices for electricity, food, rent and housing, are why Californians’ are feeling anxious.
My Republican colleagues and I say enough is enough. We are fighting for families who are struggling financially to pay rent, buy food to feed to their family, and fill up their gas tank to go to work. These are basic needs that families already have a hard time paying for.
Senate and Assembly Republicans have written a letter to CARB demanding action. Our goal is to protect Californians already struggling with high costs at the pump and high prices just about everywhere else. For CARB to adopt these regulations in the age of already sky-high gas prices will only inflict further harm on California families.
Adding insult to injury, CARB seems intent on possibly hiding these price increases from the public. They changed a report that showed the true costs we would have to shoulder if they have their way, instead burying it within a revised report highlighting the “cost-savings” from EVs that it says will even out the extra costs to Californians for gas.
Here’s how they’re doing it. In September CARB released its projected LCFS program increases for each year through 2046. The increases vary from year to year, with the highest reaching a whopping $1.83 in 2041. By December, the shock and outcry from experts and everyday Californians alike caused CARB to pull back its report, claiming it was “narrow and incomplete” because it had forgotten to include the cost savings to Californians from using EVs that would balance out the increased gas prices. Only about 2.5% of Californians own EVs, so that’s a disingenuous argument and how can CARB not know it.
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It certainly doesn’t change the fact that this “secret” gas tax will hit all Californians, directly and indirectly, and they won’t even see it coming.
Californians don’t – and shouldn’t have to – distinguish the difference between a carbon fee and a tax; they’re both just added pain at the pump. CARB’s less than transparent negotiations means we won’t find out just how bad this secret tax program hurts us on gas prices until we go to fill up.
Today I’m calling on the governor and his Air Resources Board to come forward with clear, transparent figures on how these price increases will impact consumers at the pump. They must inform and respond to the public before making any move to adopt any further price increases.
What Californians deserve from their government is honesty. More than that, families want an affordable and safe place to raise their families, which is why these “secret” gas taxes should be a secret no more.
Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh represents California’s 23rd state Senate District.