Title: California's Soaring Gas Taxes Aren't Even Going to the Roads - Foundation for Economic Education
Headings: California's Soaring Gas Taxes Aren't Even Going to the Roads
California's Soaring Gas Taxes Aren't Even Going to the Roads
But a potential amendment could outlaw that.
The Justification
The Side-Step
William F. Shughart II
Kristian Fors

Content: The more miles people drive, the more gasoline they burn, and the more tax revenue flows into the fund. But the user-fee justification breaks down for drivers of electric vehicles, who do not pay gas taxes at all, and for the owners of hybrid and other highly fuel-efficient cars and trucks. The decline in gas-tax revenue caused by the shift away from internal-combustion engines is stressing the highway trust funds in many states. So, as of 2017, 17 states charge special fees for electric-car owners to compensate for the lost revenue. The Side-Step
In reality, motor-fuel taxes have been looking less and less like user fees in California and elsewhere because state legislatures (and the U.S. Congress) periodically raid highway trust funds to pay for unrelated programs. A decade ago, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wanted to use $1.1 billion in Public Transportation Account (money to offset huge shortfalls in general-fund revenue caused by excessive government spending). The burden of the gas tax falls disproportionately on low-income Californians. The legislature responded by creating the Mass Transportation Fund, allowing $637 million to be moved out of the PTA. From 2007 to 2010, $1.3 billion in transportation funds was spent not to build or repair state roads but to finance other programs that were apparently more politically rewarding (i.e., generated more votes) than fixing bridges and filling potholes. To forestall such budgetary shenanigans in the future, Californians will vote in June on a state constitutional amendment to prohibit lawmakers from diverting transportation money to other purposes.