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: What do Californians get in return? From the beginning in 1923, the stated purpose of the gasoline tax was to build and maintain roads. The revenue, along with a “transportation improvement fee” and taxes on diesel fuel, is earmarked for California’s Road Maintenance and Rehabilitation Program, which is equivalent to the highway trust funds of other states and the federal government. For this reason, the tax on gasoline is called a user fee. It is justified as a way of forcing drivers to pay for the wear and tear they impose on public roads. 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.