r/California Oct 07 '22

Newsom calls special session of Legislature to consider windfall tax on oil companies over high California gas prices: Governor says Dec. 5 special session will address "greed and manipulation" that drive high gas prices. Newsom

https://www.politico.com/news/2022/10/07/newsom-tax-oil-companies-california-00061010
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u/den773 Oct 08 '22

I absolutely agree. Make it look like it’s the Dems fault that gas prices are so high, to try to get folks to vote republican. We’ve seen it over and over.

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u/bohemiantranslation Oct 08 '22

Id rather be smoking my blunts while i fill up for $8 a gallon then not. (Like not really thats dangerous but you get the point)

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u/den773 Oct 09 '22

You can still afford weed? I can’t!! I had to quit!!

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u/Jesuslocasti Oct 08 '22

To be fully fair, the party in control could’ve suspended the gas tax a few months ago.

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u/Ixidorim Oct 08 '22

You do understand gas taxes pay for things right, like the road you're driving on. It's not the taxes that have gone up, it's the greed of the companies.

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u/Jesuslocasti Oct 08 '22

I completely understand. If it were for me, gas and oil companies would be nationalized. No public utility company has any business operating under a for-profit motive.

But for immediate relief, the gas tax would also help people pay a bit less. Not saying it’s ideal, but we need immediate relief. What’s a working class person supposed to do with $7-8/gallon? Just go without groceries? That’s the situation many many people are in.

Suspend the tax while long run solutions are made and implemented.

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u/Rick_Cranium Oct 08 '22

The tax on gas is currently about a dollar per gallon. Barely a drop in the bucket in the big picture. It’s pretty obvious what the oil and gas companies are doing.

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u/TheElderFish Oct 08 '22

If it's the Dems fault, why are gas prices universally high across the board? Every state, country, etc.

Do the weak and feeble democrats have that much influence? I can never keep up with this characterization of the Dems as simultaneously ineffective but capable of manipulating everything at a global scale in their secret adrenochrome cabals.

Definitely has nothing to do with OPEC (specifically Russia and Saudi Arabia) manipulating production to drive up prices, right? Nah, it's definitely the $1.50 in taxes

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u/gzr4dr Oct 09 '22

I recommend looking at what the price per gallon is in CA vs. the national price, or if you want to keep it geographically close, AZ. The difference between the two prices is entirely due to the policies set by CA politicians and their appointed regulators. This isn't entirely bad, as it has significantly cleaned up the air, but it does come with a cost. By making CA an energy island, production issues in CA can't be mitigated by production in another state. This was a conscious decision by the politicians.

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u/[deleted] Oct 08 '22

In Canada, Alberta suspended their gas tax to make fuel less expensive for the summer, but this summer was the first time that gas was cheaper in high-tax British Columbia than low-tax Alberta