EDITOR: With gas prices still hovering near record high levels,
lawmakers in Sacramento are marching a hidden gas tax through the
Legislature that would add nearly a billion dollars a year to
prices at the pump.
EDITOR:
With gas prices still hovering near record high levels, lawmakers in Sacramento are marching a hidden gas tax through the Legislature that would add nearly a billion dollars a year to prices at the pump.
The hidden tax is contained in two similar bills, AB 1500 and SB 981, that would, between them, add a $1.30 tax to every barrel of oil refined into gasoline, diesel and jet fuel in the state. That pencils out to a nearly billion-dollar hidden gas tax.
Despite a record deficit in the state budget, this new billion-dollar hole in taxpayers’ pockets would be used mostly for new programs.
As the budget deficit shows, we can’t pay for existing programs, let alone new ones. These bills propose to expand the size of government, at the worst possible moment, when we really need to tighten our belt and focus on proposing programs that stimulate the economy, not harm it, said Larry McCarthy, president of the California Taxpayers’ Association.
Taxpayers, agriculture, labor and business have formed a coalition to defeat the bills. Earl P. Williams, president/CEO of the California Cotton Ginners and California Cotton Growers Associations, as well as a member of the Consumers Against the Hidden Gas Tax coalition, said consumers might only realize the pain of the hidden gas tax at the pump, but it would affect them in many ways.
When the price of fuel goes up, it costs more to produce cotton, to get cotton to the gins and then from the gins to the domestic mills or to the ports where 85 percent of California’s cotton is exported, Williams said.
We operate in a world market and competitive price arena. Increases in costs cannot be passed on or recaptured in the market, therefore you will see cuts in jobs made by farmers and allied or related infrastructure businesses, he added.
By making it more expensive to do business in California, AB 1500 and SB 981 would give out-of-state companies a clear advantage over local employers.
A large and diverse coalition opposes AB 1500 and SB 981.
Al Lundeen,
Woodward & McDowell,
Sacramento
