Prop 6: Lower Gas Taxes, Fewer Road Repairs
This proposition did not pass.
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What? | |
| Lowers gas taxes by 12 cents a gallon, diesel fuel by 20 cents a gallon, repeals a 4 percentage points in the sales tax and gets rid of an annual transportation improvement fee and an annual zero-emission vehicles fee. | |
Why? | |
The Republican Party of California wants to reverse a bill from 2017 that raised gas taxes to improve roads. | |
Vote Yes
| Vote No
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Supports a constitutional amendment to require voter approval for the Legislature to impose, increase, or extend fuel taxes or vehicle fees in the future. Reverses the gas tax put into place in 2017. | Opposes a constitutional amendment to require voter approval for the Legislature to impose, increase, or extend fuel taxes or vehicle fees in the future. Keeps gas taxes as they are. |
The change would be retroactive to Jan. 1, 2017, so it would repeal recent increases in fuel taxes and vehicle fees. Republicans are counting on this initiative, and the unpopularity of the state’s high gas taxes, to get their voters to the polls.
The Democratic-controlled Legislature voted mostly on party lines to increase the gas tax by 12 cents a gallon to help pay for road repairs and other transportation infrastructure. The diesel fuel tax increase was 20 cents a gallon, plus 4 percentage points in the sales tax. The Legislature also created an annual transportation improvement fee and an annual zero-emission vehicles fee.
Republicans successfully targeted state Sen. Josh Newman in a June recall election based on his support of the gas tax bill. He represented a district mostly in Orange County in which Democrats had gained a slight edge in voter registration but where a Republican could still be elected with a motivated base and help from the large number of Californians who identify as independents. Similar circumstances in Southern California congressional races could determine which party controls the U.S. House next year.
Opponents of Prop 6, organized as the Coalition to Protect Local Transportation Improvements, had raised more than $20 million by the end of July, six times as much as supporters. The opponents, including Gov. Jerry Brown and the California Chamber of Commerce, contend the measure would take billions of dollars away from highway and street maintenance and rehabilitation and mass transit. Supporters of Prop 6 say Californians pay the highest gas prices in the nation, and the increases warrant a taxpayer revolt because the money won’t really go to fix roads. They envision funds that might have been spent easing traffic by widening roads instead going to bike lanes or light rail projects that impede traffic.
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Data from Cal Access as of 10/30/18.
