California gas tax set to increase Wednesday as travelers gear up for July Fourth weekend
An increase in California's gas tax is set to take effect this week, just as travelers are gearing up for July Fourth weekend excursions.
According to the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration, the state's gas tax is already the highest in the U.S. It will increase by 2.2 cents per gallon on Wednesday in accordance with SB 1, the Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017, a state law that mandates an annual inflation adjustment.
The increase will raise California's gas tax to about 63 cents per gallon.
"Gasoline Retailers must get their Prices down, IMMEDIATELY," President Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Monday. "There will be no gauging (sic), which is totally illegal. If Retailers don't do this, big problems lie ahead! Start targeting around the $2.50 a Gallon number."
Later in the social media post, the president said California "should stop charging such heavy Taxes on their Gasoline. Soon the Tax will be higher than the Product itself, and the United States will not stand for it, nor will the People of California, who are being abused by these ridiculous Taxes, and by their own Government."
In response to Trump's statement, Gov. Gavin Newsom's press office posted a screenshot of the president's Truth Social post with an added caption: "'REMINDER of what Trump said on March 12: 'When oil prices go up, we make a lot of money.'"
In an interview with CNN, Sen. Adam Schiff was asked about the state's gas tax.
"The reason we're paying through the nose for gas right now is because of the war," Schiff said, referring to hostilities between the U.S. and Iran. "They didn't even try to deny that."
CNN anchor Elex Michaelson noted that the state also has "very high gas taxes and other things that make gas more expensive in California than other places."
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"That is true," Schiff said, "but they have gone up dramatically from that baseline in California, as they've gone up dramatically all over the country because of the war."
Yet as of Tuesday California did not have the highest gas prices in the nation. That dubious distinction went to Hawaii, with California's ranked second-highest.
