Thanks to cap-and-trade on top of other progressive taxes, Washington passed California for the highest gasoline prices in the nation. It’s a dubious honor, but someone has to hold it.
According to the AAA, Washington state just topped California for the highest gasoline prices in the nation. Congratulations!
The average price in Washington is $4.981. That’s 13.7 cents more per gallon than California and a whopping $2.02 more than the Mississippi average of $2.959.
Mississippi has the lowest average gasoline price in the nation. Click on the above link for an interactive map.
Washington State Imitates California
The folks in Olympia have dethroned California to claim the distinction of the country’s highest gasoline prices. Credit goes to their cap-and-trade program and “clean fuel standard,” both of which took effect this year. California pioneered these policies more than a decade ago, and Washington wants to catch up. Washington Policy Center’s Todd Myers estimates that cap-and-trade adds 45 cents a gallon to price of gas—about twice as much as California’s program.
The climate policies are intended to punish fossil-fuel consumption, but they punish lower- and middle-income folks who spend more of their income on fuel. That’s not enough punishment for the Seattle City Council, which now wants to impose a new 2% capital gains tax. Washington long maintained no income tax, which made it more attractive to businesses and high earners. But two years ago Democrats in Olympia imposed a 7% tax on capital gains over $250,000.
The Washington Supreme Court this spring used legal legerdemain to uphold the tax despite a 1933 precedent that prohibits a progressive income tax. Seattle progressives want to exploit this tax loophole. “People are eager for a fair and reasonable tax system because we currently suffer from the most regressive taxes in the nation,” City Councilman Alex Pedersen said. Tell that to drivers.
California Pride
Given that “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery”, California should be proud of what it has accomplished.
For example, California leads the nation in net migration.
Californians are so proud that Millennials Lead the Way on the Great Migration From California to Texas
The California pride list keeps growing.
California Tops the List of Worst Places to Look for an Affordable Home
California has the top 14 least affordable cities in the entire nation for those looking for their first home. Wow. Congratulations!
Everett, Washington is well down the list in spot 21. Everett will have to try much harder. But another 5 percentage points or so can put Everett in the top 10. That’s doable, with a modicum of effort.
For more discussion on the worst places to break into the housing market, please see The Starter Home Is No More, Even in Second Tier Markets
“The climate policies are intended to punish fossil-fuel consumption, but they punish lower- and middle-income folks who spend more of their income on fuel.”
Yes, Virginia, high sales taxes punish more the poorest people. If you want poor people to feel better, then you have to tax the rich more.
Alternatively, get serious about Capitol riots and go live in anarchy. If you really don’t want taxes, you want no government, so just go for it.
locally, Sheetz had $1.776/gal. gas for a promotion.
they did it this past April, too. we would like the
“gas wars” to start sometime soon.
What? Gas? I just plug my car in when I get home. Costs about 4 cents per mile in electricity here in CO.
So that’s why my air conditioning failed in the brown-out.
Your AC failed in the middle of the night?
All Governments are not your friend it seems but function much like parasites
“For example, California leads the nation in net migration.”
A story that was on KTLA, yesterday. link to ktla.com
“A report published by TRIP, a transportation nonprofit research organization, found that traffic fatalities in California have increased by 22% from 2019 to 2022. So why are traffic fatalities rising when California’s population is decreasing? Well, that’s mainly due to the increase in dangerous driving behavior.”
Some of the increases have to be directly related to the rise of EV vehicle ownership. In addition to their incredible acceleration (leading to everyone driving that much faster or attempting to dart into/out of traffic) they are also much heavier than ICE vehicles. So when an accident happens its much likely to be deadly.
No, it is due to the panicked speeds with which the residents are fleeing the state.
Traffic fatalities increased nationwide during that time period. From 2019 (39,107) to 2022 (46,270) fatalities were up around 20%. 2022 actually saw a very slight decrease from 2021, for what it’s worth.
link to statista.com
-W
There’s no reason not to buy an EV as your next car purchase. I just bought a Model 3 and the bottom line cost after the 7500 rebate will be about $37k. Pretty cheap for a new car. Insurance is only about $50/month and it will cost about $10 to drive 300 miles. Much cheaper than gas. The dealership was packed. They told me they were delivering over 120 vehicles that day. What Ford or GM dealership comes remotely close to delivering 120 vehicles in a day? To be fair, they’re the only place in the county where you can get a tesla while there are probably 2 or 3 GM and Ford dealerships, but I doubt any of them are delivering 40 cars in a day. More likely 10 at most.
There are many reasons not to get an EV. Why would I get an EV when I inherited a newer truck with low miles which I rarely drive? Nonsense. It will last me the rest of my life. No. I also bought some land close by to do some personal farming. Great for hauling tools, mower. I also load it up with tools every few months to do maintenance on an elderly relative’s home. An EV is not for everyone. If I had inherited an EV I would have traded it in for a gas truck. I’m not bashing EV’s either. It’s just not going to work for me.
I stated next car purchase.
And a EV pickup can do everything a gas pickup can do.
I will not purchase one.
The Government apparently wants everyone to have one.
So I will wait until the Government buys me one.
The Government has consistently demonstrated that they have money to burn so this should be no problem.
Kinda like forgiving the car loan that I didn’t sign for.
No it can’t. As I stated, I inherited a gas truck with low miles. It can’t do that…meh. So you would buy an EV truck if you inherited a gas truck with low miles? Why would you do this? If you like wasting 10’s of thousands of dollars I guess so but I do not because it makes no sense. I will drive this truck the rest of my days. To each their own. I would rather spend that money buying more good property that is not subject to inflation.
“The average price in Washington is $4.981. That’s 13.7 cents more per gallon than California…”
Bought some at $4.87 on June 29, ahead of the California gas tax increase on July 1. Haven’t been past the station to see what the price is now, with the higher tax.
I like California. Been there many times since one of my children used to live there. Basically it is two really big megacities widely separated with hardly anybody living in-between so they consequently have the big-city dweller’s contempt of all who are not from their city or an equivalent one. It’s a cultural thing and you see it in certain people here. California’s problem is that the coast region is the most desirable and it is filled up and has no more space. Outside of the coastal region the state is much less desirable to live in. It is too dry or too mountainous and the Central Valley although flat is not where anyone wants to live so prices for real estate and everything else goes up and up and people start to leave. Lovely state with great weather but just too expensive to make it worthwhile. The latest problems have been brought on by really bad government without doubt. Hopefully better government will correct them.
“California’s problem is that the coast region is the most desirable and it is filled up and has no more space.”
I doubt there’s a single mile of California coast which is even 1/10th as “filled up” as Hong Kong. Heck, not even 1/10th as “filled up” as Hong Kong was back when it was an economic powerhouse. If California had some of the trappings of a free country, “space” wouldn’t even be a top 1000 “issue.”
Did you know that San Francisco and Hong Kong have the same population density and that Manhattan has a much higher density of 150,000 people per square kilometer to Hong Kong’s 18,500? California already has its hyper-dense city and for the same reason. One is on an island and the other on a peninsula. That tends to cause people to clump together.
Most of Hong Kong territory is empty.
Compared the coast line facing Victoria Harbor to the Sunset in San Francisco…..
The Embarcadero is denser, but still. A that’s max-density San Francisco.. Much/most of the CA coastline is darned near empty.
Regardless, there is no; in any way shape form whatsoever; problem with MASSIVELY increasing the number of people who can fit along the CA coast. All you have to do is get the retards out of the way, such that competent people can build themselves residences and businesses where they want to live ad work; unimpeded by the incompetent retards empowered by The Fed and totalitarianism in general; and it’s done largely overnight.
Among anyone even baseline sentient, population densities waaaaaaaay in excess of that of the current CA coast, was a solved problem 150 years ago at the latest.
I will never understand this hatred for oil. If one hates oil then they hate everything because EVERYTHING is made from it and there is no other substance than can make these thing dirt cheap. Drinking straws, makeups, shoes, clothes…meh. EVERYTHING is made from it. There is no other solution unless one wants to pay some crazy price for an organic straw. It is insane and needs to stop. If it does not stop then so be it. Most will not be able to afford much of anything. I’m ok with this fact only because they voted for it. DO IT. I want to see this go down without massive chaos. DO IT. It will be much entertainment for me.
No no… they want the CORPORATIONS to stop using oil… they’re the ones causing all this! There’s nothing little old consumers can do about it, and they’d like a nice plastic straw please. They want the government to make the corporations stop, but there will be hell to pay when they don’t get that straw!
No hatred for oil up here in the Northwest. Hatred for hidden subsidies and externalities, that artificially lower the price of oil in much of the US and push the true cost off from private sector balance sheets to public climate mitigation and disaster relief programs. We’re the last true free marketers… prices should reflect the full production and long-term environmental cost.
To see all the people out driving around today, you couldn’t tell. If it really hurt, they wouldn’t be buying it.
“To see all the people out driving around today, you couldn’t tell. If it really hurt, they wouldn’t be buying it.”
As long as China maintains it’s de facto Dollar peg, The Fed can continue to print up enough to allow Americans to pretend they can afford the stuff. Effectively stealing the purchasing power from Chinese people and transferring it to Americans.
Once China quits caring…. not so much. 3x the oil price and at least 20%-50% “interest rates” to have any hope of maintaining the illusion that the currently popular childbrained measures if “inflation” is not up there with the Argentine one.
When I was younger I considered living in Argentina for a few years, just to become acclimated to flexible money.
Don’t worry.
Argentina is instead coming to live with you.
Peronism omnipresent now. It’s the only game in any Western, along with most others as well, town by now.
Around 1988/1989, I remember gas going below 80 cents a gallon in San Jose. I was amazed at the time how low it went.
CA had average, if not a bit below average gas prices in the 1980s and 90s. It wasn’t until the 2000s that they started becoming the most expensive in the country.
“Roughly half the cost of gas in Canada is taxes which contributes tens of billions to provincial and federal governments. Ive never heard with the push to EV where all these lost revenues are supposed to come from.”
In Washington the government is looking at a per mile tax to make up for the lost gas tax revenue. The problem is collecting the mileage data.
As for the gas tax, the Governor is quite open he wants everyone driving EVs, and the sooner the better. Crushing the rural economy is a fringe benefit. If you don’t live in south Puget Sound he has no use for you, and neither do Seattle’s two senators.
My guess is they’ll have you periodically report your odometer reading or they’ll increase taxes on electricity and/or tires.
“The average price in Washington is $4.981. That’s 13.7 cents more per gallon than California and a whopping $2.02 more than the Mississippi average of $2.959.”
$4.981, thats a bargain. The cheapest gas in Canada is oil producing Alberta with a cost of roughly $1.40/L times 3.78 to convert to gallons comes to $5.30 ish/gallon. In my province the gas currently is $1.59/L which comes to a little over 6 bucks/gallon.
Roughly half the cost of gas in Canada is taxes which contributes tens of billions to provincial and federal governments. Ive never heard with the push to EV where all these lost revenues are supposed to come from.
link to gasbuddy.com
For me, the price of gasoline is irrelevant. What matters is GDP per capita because that means greater opportunity for profits, higher cash flows, more spending. So what are the best states for profits in terms of GDP per capita? A whole lot of them look like “blue” states, I wonder why that is…
GDP per capita
1 – Connecticut
2 – Massachusetts
3 – New Jersey
4 – New York
5 – California
6 – Washington
7 – New Hampshire
8 – Colorado
9 – Wyoming
10 – Maryland
11 – Alaska
12 – Illinois
Source: link to worldpopulationreview.com
And California is #1 in total GDP at $3 trillion. Data driven analysis is fat-free and hyperbole free.
It’s because they have services based economies which are highly profitable and scalable. Services and software are fundamentally better businesses than resource extraction and manufacturing oriented businesses. It’s not a function of the politics, California did well before it was a one party state.
“It’s not a function of the politics”
Lol.
You have California schools admitting students based on ‘adversity’ and other Progressive nonsense. California succeeds in some areas in spite of the political environment, not because of it. Outside of the Bay Area and Southern California the state is a disaster. It’s very poor and basically third world in terms of Gini coefficient.
California GDP = $3 trillion. By your logic, states that have the “right” policies should have better GDPs so show me the money! Which state do you consider a bastion of all the right policies?
Even looking at it by GDP per Capita you see that the top states are all progressive but you can go even further. Most of that state GDP comes from cities which again are criticized for being run by progressives.
Go ahead, twist yourself into a Gordian knot and we’ll let the data speak for itself.
I would consider something like Singapore to have the ‘right’ policies. There’s a benefit to networks that are present in urban areas for certain industries, it’s difficult to work in these industries and hire people otherwise. Quality SAAS software is basically only in the Seattle metro and Silicon valley.
You’re kidding yourself if you think places like Stockton are nice.
I’ve been to Singapore, lovely place but it’s not all paradise. Housing cost is huge, energy problems, and some very strict laws.
link to bloomberg.com
“It’s because they have services based economies which are highly profitable and scalable.”
No it’s not.
It’s (Cali and Washington only partly excepted) almost entirely because they are the far and away main recipients of the gigantic, completely all-overshadowing, forced redistributions of wealth which is is largely how all money is “made” post 1971: The states with the highest density of Fed connected leeches, are almost exactly the ones where most of the debasement loot is being channelled.
No amount of doing work, amounts to anything as far as “money” is concerned anymore, compared to The Fed printing up trillions upon trillions and handing it to complete idiots in New York and Connecticut. The recipient idiots may not know what to do with the wash of freshprint, but what they have no choice but to be doing, is outbidding more-competent-but further-from-the-Fed people for control of increasingly all resources. Which they then, of course, waste and ruin, since they don’t have the brains to know better. But then, they just get handed trillions more. All stolen by debasement and regulation and ambulance chasing shakedowns, from the ever fewer hopeless romantic competents who still remain out there thinking being literate and useful will somehow magically become rewarding again.
Of course, you can always rely on the clueless to mindlessly regurgitate: “But, but, but…. they “made money” (wowww!!!) (from being handed checks by the Fed), so they must be smaaaart!!) As if dropping a bag of dollars on the head of a lobotomised chipmunk somehow makes him any more intelligent.
But hey, its the Dumbage. Dumb cheering for Dumber, since he “makes money” that Dumbest steals from the poor saps not sufficiently dumb to be part of the Dumbage in-crowd.
You may be mistaking Causation for Correlation which is a common mistake people make.
If all those states elected Red governors in the next election would you suddenly credit Republicans for the GDP per capita? I’m pretty sure you would not nor would anyone else.
Also neither you, nor anyone else knows whether their GDP per capita would be higher if those states had Red governors for the past 20 years. All anyone can do is speculate what might happen.
The whole point of listing more than one state was to provide a broader data set because one or two states can be an anomaly but a pattern?
There are deep red states like Mississippi or pick whichever one you want. The narrative here from many commenters is “blue = bad” and “red = good” but the data doesn’t show that, at least from a GDP/economic perspective. I and don’t even care if a state is red or blue because the fact is most of the money is made in cities and those too are always categorized as “blue” run cities. Name me a “red” city that is prosperous? Maybe Miami? Just one, that’s it?
Florida has a deep red governor and has become a much redder state and Desantis just implemented some deep red policies on immigrants, we’ll see in 12 months what the outcome of that strategy will be so yes, we can make some analysis on decisions based on the laws passed. It’s a great experiment and I think within 12 months or less, they will likely repeal that law because it’s BAD for profits but let’s wait and see.
Let me be very clear: MPO45v2 identifies as a profiter and sometimes a profiteer. My pronouns are $,£,€,¥. I really could care less who is governor or president as long as the profits keep rolling.
I do respond to nonsense occasionally but as soon as we get that IGNORE button it will stop because I won’t be able to see those comments.
And by the way, I’ve never been making more money as I am now and I don’t credit Biden with that, I credit my profit goals and strategy. I load up on economic data and plan accordingly while people are loading up on beer and political pandering.
My point is that when you look at California’s 3 trillion GDP and ask the following question: ‘What would the GDP be if the Governor had been Republican the last 20 years’ and the choices were:
A) Less than 3 trillion
B) More than 3 trillion
C) About the same
D) No one can say for sure because there aren’t enough data points (exact duplicates of California)
I hope your answer would be D.
Personally, I think rich people want more services (well poor people do too but they can’t afford them) and because they are rich they are willing to pay for them and Democratic governments tend to spend more and provide more services so they get voted in. So you get a feedback loop that once an area becomes rich enough it tends to slide toward wanting and paying for more services until such time that it can’t afford them anymore.
And yes, I’m fully aware your here for the money making potential. Nothing wrong with that in the least. I occasionally profit from things here too.
Wealth concentration is naturally going to be in the cities. That is where most of the people are. You say the wealth producing cities are run by progressives, but what is life like in those cites, such as Chicago, Detroit, Baltimore, San Francisco? The hotel workers are on strike here in L.A., along with the W.G.A writers.
KTLA Local News: “Angelenos who make $70,000 a year are still considered ‘low-income’”
“If you are a single person in Los Angeles making around $70,000 a year, you are still considered low-income, according to a new statewide study.”
California is number 6 in GDP per capita behind Washington DC, New York, Massachusetts, North Dakota, and Washington state so you are not at the top. In addition in real GDP growth California is the laggard in this cycle behind Indiana. If you use the ACS Supplemental Poverty Measures (SPM) which California also uses to measure true poverty , California comes out dead last with the highest percentage of their population living in poverty.
These arguments are misleading. Like the murder rate arguments for red states. Almost all the murders in red states occur in blue cities. Most of those states have big businesses that were started when they were red. The businesses attracted democrats. Democrats didn’t build the businesses. And one by one, the businesses will move from the blue states.
“A whole lot of them look like “blue” states, I wonder why that is…”
When all wealth and power is redistributed entirely according to the arbitrary wishes of an onipotent central bank and government, it’s not exactly surprising that most gets redistributed to the ones most reliably dependent on said central bank and government, now is it?
If you could find a way to subtract out the most direct and obvious straight up transfer payments: Asset appreciation, “legal” rackets, “banking” “finance”, “realty”, “wealth management” etc., along with those in the “luxury” and “arts” trades feeding most directly off of those direct transfer beneficiaries, you’d at least have a slightly less obviously silly list.
California would likely still be in a special situation, though: The weather. People want to live there since the weather does not suck. Many are willing to put up with a lot of theft, enslavement and and daily whippings and robbings, in exchange for 68 and sunny, every day.
“And California is #1 in total GDP at $3 trillion.”
I was reading recently that government spending is counted as GDP. I’d guess the California state budget is bigger than any other state.
Why didn’t you include the District of Columbia GDP at $96,728.
Connecticut was only $84,972 which you list as #1.
We all know how highly productive DC is, or claims to be.
Oh, of course, bureaucracy-ridden DC is not a state.
It isn’t all just California. You are being a little unfair. If you look at your map the high prices are all clustered in the west including Utah, Arizona, and Idaho which are all Republican states. It has somewhat to do with where oil is produced and geography. Pipelines are more difficult in the mountain area. California is a special case because of the gasoline formulation to reduce air pollution and basically only California refineries produce the formulation, which reduces competition and price pressure. California is the most populous state. There is a reason people like to live here and since you believe in supply and demand, you should understand why California is more expensive. All of that said there a several policies which make it more expensive here but they definitely aren’t the only reasons for the expense.
The policies of Washington add about 75 cents a gallon.
In general CA regulations are insane.
Nobody, including yourself, got very specific in the policies. California gas tax is about $0.25/gallon higher than the national average. About $0.37/gallon is for fees related to environmental issues (low carbon and greenhouse gas fees). I believe fees of this nature on a state by state basis are unwise and it would be better handled on a national/international basis. I know that many of your readers don’t believe in climate change. We can all roast together. July 3, 2023 was the hottest day in history worldwide. link to forbes.com
“Even after those first scorching millennia, however, the planet has often been much warmer than it is now. One of the warmest times was during the geologic period known as the Neoproterozoic, between 600 and 800 million years ago. Conditions were also frequently sweltering between 500 million and 250 million years ago.”
Never drive your car again or use heat or air conditioning. You are making the planet warm.
link to climate.gov.
You don’t need to go back that far. It’s believed the Antarctic ice sheet starting forming 35 MYA. Prior to that Antarctica was covered in forest.
Arizona has a democratic governor and 2 democratic senators, so I’d hardly call it a Republican state
Lol… wut?
How can you launch an implicit defense of gasoline taxes in CA? Yes, there are other factors that may impact prices in CA, but a huge factor is the state government. It’s literally on the books and free for all to look up.
“…There is a reason people like to live here.”
Yes. A reason: The weather.
It’s a biggie. And the one thing the idiotocrats don’t have the ability to ruin. At least as of yet. No doubt the useless, illiterate, dilettante offspring of the braindead rabble which Fed wealth transfers handed all wealth and power there to, will soon get state sponsored loans and grants to “do startups” to “cool the planet” or something similarly harebrained. It wouldn’t be the dumbage if Dumb, Dumber and Dumbest weren’t fully in charge and stupid, after all.
OTOH, absolutely every possible thing the idiotocrats possibly could ruin, they have. The state would be near infinitely better off as part of China, or Mexico, or North Korea, by now.
But yes. As for now: The weather.
I live just east of the PHX metro area. Filled up diesel yesterday for ~3.90/gal.
All these taxes are just government pickpockets using BS “climate change” to pad General Funds for their pet projects
AZ is no longer Republican