For most Californians, cars are a part of their livelihood and gasoline is a necessity. People must drive their cars to work in order to work and earn a paycheck. As prices continue to rise, families are forced to cutback on necessities or work longer hours to make ends meet. People need to drive to buy food, to get their children to school or day-care and to get to the doctor. Pressure from increased prices are especially felt by seniors on fixed incomes and the working poor.
People are mad and they want to know why gas prices are so high.
It is an undeniable fact that government taxes are responsible for a large portion of the cost of gasoline in California. Gas is subject to an 18.4 cents per gallon federal excise tax, an 18 cents per gallon state excise tax, and the state sales tax adds an average of 15 cents per gallon to the cost of gas. I think that 50 cents of taxation per gallon of gasoline is too much and is unfair to California consumers. The common-sense solution to this problem is to eliminate sales tax on gas. Since state-imposed taxes add to the cost of gas, government can and should take quick action to reduce the cost of gasoline by eliminating those taxes.