Opinion: California’s high fuel taxes and bad roads
By Dan Walters, Sacramento Bee
A cogent – and perhaps unanswerable – question punctuates the political machinations over raising billions of new dollars to repair California’s deteriorating highways.
How is it that California motorists are paying some of the nation’s highest fuel taxes, but the highways they use are among the nation’s worst?
Dan Walters
Including federal gas taxes, Californians are paying just under 61 cents a gallon, the fourth highest in the nation. That doesn’t include another dime a gallon in “cap-and-trade” carbon fees that, if added, would make California the highest-taxing state.
Meanwhile, data from the Federal Highway Administration place California’s highways as among the worst in physical condition.
Wow. Here in Arizona our diesel is $2.13 per Gallon and our Gas is $2.59 per Gallon, but if we drive to Blythe Calif. only 18 miles away Diesel is $3.89 and gas is $3.97, and we have beautiful roads.glad I don’t live in Calif. Anymore
Yeah, when you drive Hwy 88 out of Gardnerville toward Markleeville, even without the sign, you’d know as soon as you hit the state line. The asphalt goes to $#!t.
California sanctuaries for all the numb nuts. Tax and protect all the free loaders and whackos. Build it and they will come.
Calif. Gas Tax must be being used for the overloaded Welfare people in your state,phoney disability claims and section 8 housing and food stamps. instead of road repairs,
Dogula is right, all you have to do is leave the state and your on a nice smooth road.
Highest taxes, worst roads.
How is it that taxpayers stand for this nonsense? Unfortunately, more takers than producers casting ballots.
Perhaps the whiny Ca. haters should consider moving to one of the real ‘welfare’ states like Texas, Kansas or any of the red state federal taxsuckers that California helps subsidize-
Please feel free to keep on driving down your roads to some other state where you would feel more like ‘patriotic ‘Murkins’
good riddance
Nobody hates California. It’s a beautiful place!
It’s just that enormous sucking sound every time you open your wallet. The people who run the place manage to waste more of other people’s money on goodness knows what? Because the people who are putting out the money sure ain’t gettin’ much back.
Teabags: ‘Here’s your hat, what’s your hurry?’
Oh OK, ‘don’t let the door hit ya where the good lord split ya’
If you don’t like what California does with our money-GTFO
More whining and finger pointing from the same cast of trolls YAWN
And more fools willing to let the state continue to suck all their earned money and see zero results. All in the name of liberalism. Moonbutt has you fooled like no other.
I DID leave. Unfortunately, too many people just like YOU keep following us out of the state because it got too expensive. And they’re voting to turn their new homes into the $#!t hole they just left. It’s no wonder people hate Californians. (the residents, not the state.)
See ya, wouldnt wanna be ya, wrongula, hasta lavista and adios. The residents, not the state, are all breathing a sigh of relief that you are outta here. Got more room for your ilk? Heres hoping they, too, see the light and move towards it as well.
Quality control on CalTrans projects are probably the worst. Around 2000, state freeway 60 in Riverside County was repaved. The very 1st week it opened, the road was so bad, front tires were literally going airborne every second or so for huge distances. Then there are the private toll roads going through the coastal hills to the beach south of Los Angeles , smoothest roads in the country maybe.
From Dan’s own Article:
Gov. Jerry Brown says the state needs another $59 billion over 10 years for maintenance and repair. $5.9 billion per year.
Gasoline and diesel fuel taxes generate about $4.5 billion a year for state and local governments
Caltrans is budgeted to spend $1.4 billion on highway maintenance and another $2.3 billion on roadway improvements.
He then says the system is old from World War II and that gallonage taxes have not been adjusted for inflation and better miles per gallon vehicles has flattened out the number of gallons used.
He missed a couple of points.
California has the 2nd highest number of functional road mileage at about 172,000 miles; Texas has the highest at about 312,000 miles. Or, California has 45% fewer miles of road. (We have the 2nd most miles in Interstate miles too.)
California has the Highest number of Vehicles on those roads at about 32.5 million; Texas is 2nd highest at about 17.5 million. Or, California has 46% more vehicles.
Choose your poison, fewer people on roads or more road maintenance.
Corrupt to the core, and we have to pay for shifty quality control that is the real issue maybe.
Kinda like a person who bought a Dodge truck and complains around 100K-300K miles they need more money for another truck. But if they bought a Toyota, it might last twice as long. Hence, requiring few funds.