Rep. David Valadao and Jay Obernolte call for Gov. Newsom to suspend gas tax

“When we requested a full repeal of California’s gasoline tax in March this year, Californians were paying $4.80 per gallon of gasoline. Today that price has ballooned to $6.43 per gallon, a 34 percent increase in only three months. A full repeal of the state gas tax in March could have saved Californians $17 million per day and $1.5 billion to date. But instead, they were forced to pay an additional fifty-one cents per gallon due to California’s gasoline tax, the highest in the nation,” said Valadao. 

Their official request to the governor also urged support for a repeal of the state’s indexing of the gas tax to inflation, considering inflation rates are continuing to rise at the highest rate in 40 years: 

“We strongly urge you to heed President Biden’s request and work with the Legislature to suspend our state’s gasoline tax. Furthermore, we ask that you support a repeal of our state’s policy of indexing the gas tax to inflation. Amidst historic uncertainty in global energy markets and California’s unique vulnerability to supply shocks, California families deserve tax relief that reflects the severity of the economic realities they face.”

Californians currently pay the highest gas prices nationwide, thanks partly to the state’s highest-in-the-country gas tax, even as California is set to collect nearly $100 billion more from taxpayers this year than it needs to support expenditures. Combined with the almost $30 billion in federal infrastructure funds the state received from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act passed by Congress, the State of California has enough revenue for an unconditional suspension of the gas tax for the next 20 years without the reduction of a single penny in infrastructure spending, stated Valadao.

Reps. Valadao and Obernolte were joined by Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (CA-23), Reps. Doug LaMalfa (CA-01), Ken Calvert (CA-42), Young Kim (CA-39), Michelle Steel (CA-48), Mike Garcia (CA-25), Darrell Issa (CA-50), Connie Conway (CA-22), and Tom McClintock (CA-04) in the official request to Governor Newsom.

Read the full letter here.