The price of gasoline dropped significantly in the last quarter of 2014. That’s good news for consumers, especially those who have to commute to points north, south and east to work, and lower fuel prices significantly reduce the cost of moving goods to market, but now they’re on the way back up. Why?
Of course, sales tax revenue on gas sales is dropping, while other, less noticeable gas taxes are going up.
The loss of sales tax dollars has Democrats in Sacramento upset. They don’t think that their subjects should have all that extra income to spend on such frivolous things as food for their kids or a date night with their significant other. So, they’ll fix it.
In 2006, Democrats decided that we were consuming too much gasoline and that this somehow was responsible for a change in the weather, so they passed Assembly Bill 32, the California Global Warming Solutions Act. Never mind the scientific fact is that the weather is constantly changing and has been since the Earth was created and long before the internal combustion engine was invented.
So, this year a new fee was added on top of all the other taxes that are placed on a gallon that would be used to provide staffing, contracts and equipment to state agencies to implement AB 32 — in other words, more state employees. This fee is different than how sales taxes, a tax on the dollar amount of the sale, are calculated because it doesn’t matter how much money the sale brings, it is based on how many gallons you consume.
Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal reported that House Democrats are proposing a 15 cent-a-gallon increase that would more than double the federal sales tax level.
So how much are we paying in gas taxes? Well, at 64 cents a gallon, California is the fourth-highest state in the nation. Only New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Hawaii are higher. Other states are generally 20 cents less. In January, the carbon tax went up 15 cents a gallon, and some experts think it could go as high as 75 cents a gallon before they are done.
But even at the current rate it isn’t enough to satisfy tax-and-spend politicians in the Golden State. They have all those “programs,” like providing illegal aliens with driver’s licenses, and if they don’t collect enough taxes from the “rich” — which in this case is anyone driving a car or operating a truck — then they may have to stop giving things away.
I am getting tired of politicians picking my pocket. Every time we seem to get a little break and have a little extra spending money, the politicians come rushing in after it like a pack of locusts. It seems that the game is rigged to keep us in a position where we are just getting by.
Maybe I wouldn’t complain if the money was used effectively to meet a public need. But that’s not the case. Roads are a perfect example. Once among the best in the nation, California’s road system is falling apart. So what do our state leaders do? Instead of fixing the roads, they spend billions on a bullet train!
But what do they do with the other tax money they collect from us? The highest cost is to ensure that public employee unions are paid off for supporting Democratic candidates. For example, take a look at the pay rates for Santa Barbara County and compare them to comparable jobs in the civilian sector.
According to the county Auditor-Controller’s Office, an average salary may only be $64,324, but if you factor in overtime and working out of classification, annual pay jumps to an astonishing $74,353. After you add in all the extras, or what’s known as “total compensation,” then the average jumped to $112,970 per employee!
As a matter of comparison, the average salary as reported on the state controllers’ website in Lompoc is $52,604 including the benefit package. Keep this in mind: According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the median per capita income in Santa Barbara County is only $30,353, and that’s without benefits, which are very sparse in private industry.
So, you wonder why I seem to be mixing apples and oranges in this commentary, first talking about gas taxes and then about county employee pay. Well, local government pay is illustrative of how tax money is spent in California.
We don’t get much bounce for our buck whether it’s carbon fee (tax) dollars or any other tax dollars because it all seems to be going to enrich one class of citizens while harming people who don’t work for the government.
The only way to change this trend is to expel Democrats from office, but considering their strong support by all those government union workers, I sincerely doubt that will ever happen in my lifetime.
So, reach for your wallet and keep sending those dollars to Sacramento.
— Ron Fink, a Lompoc resident since 1975, is retired from the aerospace industry and has been active with Lompoc municipal government commissions and committee since 1992, including 12 years on the Lompoc Planning Commission. He is also a voting member of the Santa Barbara County Taxpayers Association. Contact him at news@noozhawk.com. The opinions expressed are his own.
