CAMPAIGN 2018: Gas Tax – “Yes on Prop 6” breakdown

Supporters of Proposition 6 say California drivers are being taxed too much, and the state did so without the consent of the people. They’re calling the gas tax, passed by the legislature in 2017, to be repealed.

“We’ve already paid one of the highest gas taxes in the country for good roads. But what did the politicians do? They have stolen our money year after year,” said “Carl DeMaio with the “Yes on 6” campaign, at a rally in Santa Clara County.

A repeal would overturn changes from SB-1, including the 12 cent gas tax increase, a roughly 20 cent bump for diesel, along with the new transportation improvement fees (up to $175 on cars) and a $100 zero emission vehicle fee.

Prop 6 also prevents new gas taxes without a majority vote by the public.

Supporters say the more than $5 billion a year the tax is expected to generate isn’t needed – all California needs to do, they say, is spend its money better.

That’s what Republican Governor candidate John Cox told us during the primary.

“Cal Trans spends four times what Texas does to build a mile of road,” Cox said. “I can’t image concrete and asphalt cost a lot more in California than it does in Texas. That’s waste and corruption.”

PolitiFact says the number Cox used is from old data. But still, the latest figures show that the state spends more than two and a half times the national average – about double what Texas spends.

Repeal supporters blame a bloated Cal Trans. Assembly District 30 candidate Neil Kitchens wants to privatize road repairs to cut the unnecessary workforce at Cal Trans.

“They’re 35-hundred employees right now as we speak at Cal Trans that are not doing anything.
They’re getting paid to do nothing,” Kitchens said. “That’s half a billion dollars a year
that’s costing you and costing me.”

But Prop 6 opponents argue that workers all over the state are on these gas tax funded projects already in progress – jobs people would lose.

“There’s a lot of structures out there already going in our infrastructure that need to continue. The money would be stopped immediately. We can’t have that. We can’t afford it. We need jobs,” said retired operating engineer Manny Pineiro.

The “Yes on 6” campaign says the gas tax costs the “typical California family” nearly $780 dollars a year. That report uses a family with two cars, both of them filling up with gas once a week. For vehicle fees, their hypothetical family has a 25-thousand dollar car and a 35-thousand dollar car. Cheaper cars have lower costs.