It appears that the California legislature is having a bit of fun at the voter’s expense. The politicians announced that they were forming a committee to try and find out why gas prices are so high in their state.
We should congratulate them for making that announcement with a straight face.
In fact, there are many reasons why California’s price at the pump is so much more expensive than anywhere else, and we can trace almost all of those reasons to the state’s radical-left government policies.
California, as has been pointed out by its defenders, is a “fuel island” with no pipelines to bring fuel into the state from elsewhere.
Of course, the defenders fail to mention that California decided not to allow offshore drilling, and Gov. Gavin Newsom has said there will be no further permits issued to allow for hydraulic fracturing or fracking.
But in addition to the second-highest taxes in the United States, California tacks on a regulatory fee, according to the New York Times.
California’s high fuel prices are partly because of taxes as well as regulatory programs aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Together, they added about $1.27 to the cost of a gallon of gas last month, according to a calculation by the Western States Petroleum Association.
About 40 percent of that cost comes from the state’s gasoline tax. California taxes fuel at 51.1 cents per gallon, the second-highest amount in the nation after Pennsylvania, according to the Federation of Tax Administrators.
That means that 60% of the excess cost of selling gas at the pump is from green formulas for gas. Gas refined for use in Texas can’t be sold in California.
It’s loony.
Nevertheless, intrepid state lawmakers in California are on the case and vow to get to the bottom of the “mystery” of gas prices.
Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon announced a bipartisan committee to investigate gas price gouging, with plans to question oil companies, regulators and economists to find out why California’s gas prices are consistently the highest in the country.
California’s gas prices are currently the highest in the U.S., with the average price per gallon at $6.40 on Monday compared to the national average of $4.98.
“We have put ourselves in a situation because of our addiction to the gas-powered engine. Yet that is no excuse for the actions of those who pin California drivers down with a foot on our necks and a hand in our pockets,” Rendon said.
How do guys like that look at themselves in the mirror every night? “Foot on our necks” and “hand in our pockets”? Isn’t that exactly what California Democrats are doing to citizens?
Hey, look! Squirrel!
They will find someone else to blame besides themselves. They always do.
Newsom suggested a “gas tax holiday” back in February, but the legislature was too busy slamming their boots on the necks of California taxpayers in some other scheme. Now another increase in the state gas tax is scheduled for July, and the legislature is wringing its hands over the unseen forces raising gas prices?
Even Republicans in California are stomping their little feet and demanding “action.” But there are a lot of Democrats who want those taxes to remain high so that they deliver maximum pain to taxpayers, forcing them to switch to electric cars.
Perhaps the Democrats would not be against returning to the horse-and-buggy days.
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