VVAmerican Governments The fact of the matter is that we rely on taxes and the government to ensure that we can safely and smoothly operate throughout our daily lives. There is almost nothing that isn’t in some way or another affected by a tax. During the last election, California had a few propositions that would use taxation in order to fulfill a need in the state. One of those initiatives was to repeal the 2017 Gas taxes. The gas tax was passed to charge an additional 12 cents a gallon for gasoline and 20 cents a gallon for diesel for the maintenance and building of new and existing infrastructure. There are pros and cons for the gas tax but ultimately the majority voted NO on the prop and the gas tax wasn’t repealed. Underneath the surface, the gas tax contained another important component to it.
On top of the extra taxes for buying gasoline or diesel for your car, Proposition 6 would also add another step, voter approval, to the process of making any other laws that would tax vehicle or gas fees. This would not only get rid of the gas tax altogether but make it harder for one to be created again in the future. At least that’s what the description of the initiative would say. The amount of tax on fuel might not seem like much in the short term but if you keep track that amount of money can add up really quickly, especially with gas guzzling or work vehicles. Another reason this was such an important bill was because it was supposed to make more Republicans come out to vote for it. It was backed primarily by Carl Demaio and the majority of Republicans. They explained that the bill hits poorer families harder that count every penny but the rich can careless if they pay an extra dollar or two every time they pull up the a gas pump. Over the course of a year that’s about 500 dollars that those people don’t have now. It wouldn’t be such a problem if everyone could afford a new Tesla Model E but that is just not realistic. Hybrid and Electric cars are still pretty expensive so sadly many people still drive gasoline and diesel cars. The democrats believe that roads are vital for the economy because good infrastructure means that transportation is possible. If transportation is possible then more things can be sold and that means more money in the economy. What this means now for California is that things will remain the same as they were before November 6, 2018. There will still be additional tax on top of every gallon and that accumulated amount of money will hopefully make its way into building new infrastructure, clean and maintaining the upkeep of our highways, and paying the people who will be doing all of that. If we take the following fact into account, “Californians pay 95.5 cents to the government on every gallon of gas. That’s about $18 in taxes and fees on a typical fill-up – much more than motorists pay in other states” (ballotpedia.com), there should be no problem at all when it comes to gathering up money for infrastructure. The proposition might’ve been knocked down at the ballot but we can still expect to see something similar for the 2020 election. There is already an initiative cleared for circulation that will be similar to the 2018 Prop 6. “Transportation Lockboxes, and Terminate High-Speed Rail Project Initiative” will do exactly what the title says. Another factor of the initiative would be to make local governments in charge of infrastructure and that they would need to hire private sector companies to do the jobs but the taxes collected for the projects would go into a special account that would only be designated for those purposes. It looks like Carl DeMaio again in trying to get something to work. The approach he is taking this time is if he can’t strike down the 2017 gas tax completely, he would like to at least make sure that the money is safe and is spent wisely. The lockbox would ensure on the money being spent on the right things and hiring private sector companies would give the local businesses more jobs and opportunities as well as strengthening the overall local economies. Whether or not the right decision for the state were made, the majority of voters have chosen better roads for everyone at the expense of a little more at the pump. The 2017 Gas Tax is here to stay and its effectiveness can be observed already. Many projects have been observed taking place on local highways and streets. The taxpayers dollars are already at work and new smooth roads are always appreciated. Let’s hope for California’s sake that they can continue to reap the benefits of driving on a new, clean smooth road.
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AuthorUndergraduate student generated content. Blog posting and updating done by Kristina Flores Victor, Assistant Professor of Political Science at CSUS Archives
March 2020
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