By Eric Peters
Are you ready for $10/gal. gas?
They are apparently re-calibrating gas pumps in California to register double digit gas prices. Not the total price of what you pump but rather the double digit cost of a single gallon of gas. The expectation being it will soar to more than $10 per gallon in the near future – and not Because Putin, though the Biden Thing continues to say it’s so, hoping you’ll believe it and blame Putin Rearing rather than him, enserfing.
![Gas Tax/ Gas Price - Citizens Journal](https://www.citizensjournal.us/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/CA-gas-696x532-1-600x459.jpg)
![Gas Tax/ Gas Price - Citizens Journal](https://www.citizensjournal.us/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/CA-gas-696x532-1-600x459.jpg)
But it is because of the other things in California that gasoline sold there is currently the most expensive sold anywhere within the boundaries of the United States. In part, because of the extortionate taxes levied by the things which control California – which is or ought to be regarded by the people of California as a joke in very poor taste, given California’s “progressive” – i.e., socialist – policies.
Aren’t socialists supposed to be in favor of easing the burden on the working class, the average person?
Well, that’s how socialists talk. How they walk – and tax – is another matter.
Haven’t you heard? C’mon, man!
In addition to the federal gas tax of 18 cents per gallon that all Americans pay whenever they buy gas – which was supposed to be used to maintain the roads people drive upon and so unobjectionable, when it was used solely to maintain the roads upon which people drove upon – California drivers also pay other taxes, as follows:
State Excise Tax: 51 cents per gallon (about three times as much as the federal tax gas).
Sales Tax: 10 cents per gallon.
Low Carbon Gas Tax: 22 cents per gallon.
Greenhouse Gas Tax: 15 cents per gallon.
Underground Tank Storage Tax: 2 cents per gallon.
That’s about $1 in taxes in addition to federal taxes on a gallon of gas that actually cost about $1.50 (less taxes) just two short years ago, before the Biden Thing gait-ataxia’d its way into the White House.
Gas s also made more costly by making it more expensive to refine and distribute; by imposing requirements at gas stations that pumps have “vapor recovery” systems – and so on. Someone gets to pay for all of this.
Guess who?
There are several angles from which to gaze upon this concatenation of regressivity – the term used to describe taxes that are disproportionate in themselves and which also disproportionately hurt people of modest means the most as they lack the means to pay them.
And haven’t got much in the way of viable alternatives to paying them.
Taking the bus in lieu of the car doesn’t work when it doesn’t go where you work, exactly – or pick up/drop off in time to get to work on time and then home in reasonable time. It is why most working people cannot afford to take the bus. Walking is great exercise but you show up sweaty and late, usually.
Plus, tired.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of Citizens Journal
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