Breitbart.com points out that over the past nine years tax collections in California have increased by 50 percent. Yet that’s not enough for California’s Democrat tax-and-spend politicians. Gov. Jerry Brown just signed into law a 12-cent increase in the gasoline excise tax and a new "transportation improvement fee" that’s on a sliding scale determined by the value of your car.
The 12-cent jump means California drivers will be the victims of the second-highest gas tax in the nation, which will total 73.2 cents a gallon.
Parroting the spin from the left, the Sacramento Bee says, "The bulk of the revenue raised will go to various state and local road programs, as well as public transit, goods movement and traffic congestion."
If you believe that, I’ll bet you believed you could keep your doctor under Obamacare.
There are no guarantees where the money will be spent. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger raised the gas tax by 11 cents in 2008 and wasted the money on a "high speed rail initiative." If politicians were subject to the same financial laws that Wall Street is, most of them would be under indictment.
San Diego City Councilman Carl DeMaio estimates every California driver will be out an extra $300 to $500 a year to pay the new gas and "improvement fee" tax. What makes the tax such a scam is that there is no dedicated road fund in California. The $52 billion raised over the next ten years will be sloshing around in the general fund where it will be subject to demands from lobbyists and activists and politicians.
Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn. told Fox News only 20 cents of every gas tax dollar goes toward repairing crumbling roads and bridges. The other 80 cents flows down the rathole to pay for California public employee’s pensions.
"You can call it a transportation tax, education tax, or health care tax. At end of day the money will find its way into public employee compensation," Coupal said.
The only hope California drivers have will come in November 2018. The ballot will contain a constitutional amendment designed to limit politicians to spending gas tax money only on transportation projects.
That will keep the money from going into pensions more lavish than the taxpayers get, but it won’t prevent the money from being wasted on bullet trains and other mass transit boondoggles.
Michael Reagan, the eldest son of President Reagan, is a Newsmax TV analyst. A syndicated columnist and author, he chairs The Reagan Legacy Foundation. Michael is an in-demand speaker with Premiere speaker’s bureau. Read more reports from Michael Reagan — Go Here Now.