Written by Jonathan Du Fault
Senator Brian Jones (R-Santee) and many other California Republican leaders are calling for the suspension of the excise tax on gasoline sales in the state.
The money from this “gas” tax is supposed to be used to help fix the state’s roads and highways, but little progress has been made in that area. While the state is sitting on a $76 billion budget surplus, the tax is set to increase to over 50 cents per gallon on July 1st., driving gas prices higher.
“The state gasoline excise tax is currently scheduled to increase to over 50 cents per gallon on July 1st. Rather than allowing Governor Newsom to run around the state handing out millions of dollars in free lottery tickets and other chum, we should instead use the budget surplus to reduce the obscene excise tax on gasoline purchases” said Senator Jones.
A group from the Senate Republican Caucus recently sent a letter to Democrat Governor Newsom, Senate President pro-Tempore Toni Atkins (D – San Diego), Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D – Lakewood), Senate Budget Committee Chair Nancy Skinner (D – Berkeley), and Assembly Budget Committee Chair Philip Ting (D- San Francisco), requesting a one-year suspension of the excise tax. This suspension would immediately lower the price of gasoline by over 50 cents per gallon.
Senator Jones claims that Newsom and other Democratic leaders do not know what the gas prices are like because they are chauffeured in state vehicles.
The group believes this tax suspension would help Californians as they recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Many Californians lost their jobs and businesses during the state-ordered COVID shutdown. The least the state can do is take some of the bloated budget surplus and help lower the cost of gasoline Californians pay” argues Jones.
