Starting Wednesday, July 1, California drivers will have to pay a higher tax at the gas pump than anywhere else in the country. The state gas tax increased by 2.2 cents per gallon, for a total of 63.4 cents per gallon.
The tax dates back to the Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017, which was passed to support road maintenance and other California infrastructure projects. The reason for the increase is simple: to keep pace with inflation. To do this the tax increases every year.
Gas prices have risen sharply in the past several months following the US attack on Iran and the subsequent closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital route for oil traffic to the Gulf. Since negotiations have stalled, prices have remained stagnant, with some states seeing reductions. For two weeks, the national average has remained below $4.00 per gallon.
Today’s national average is $3.91 per gallon. The decline in prices is largely related to the ongoing negotiations, although peace is still far away between the US and Iran. That figure is a sharp decline from a month ago, when the national average reached $4.50 a gallon. However, another temporary bounce is likely to push prices higher. Typically, gas prices rise in July as Americans hit the road for the holiday weekend.
This figure is of little consolation to California residents. The state’s average gas price is regularly the highest in the nation and is $5.41 per gallon as of this publication. Even that figure is down somewhat from the highs of a month or two ago, when gas averaged $6.03 statewide. Right now, California residents still have a long way to go while they wait for fuel prices to return to more reasonable numbers.
