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California gas prices aren’t a mystery — they’re the result of ‘progressive’ policy

If you read the recent CBS News report on California gas prices, you are left with the impression that the causes are numerous and difficult to pin down.

Taxes. Regulations. Refinery outages. Corporate behavior. Market concentration. Investigations.

The piece presents it as a complicated, multi-variable problem.

But it is not a mystery. And it is not random.

It is the predictable outcome of policy choices made over years by California’s Democratic leadership — from the legislature to the desk of Gov. Gavin Newsom.

In California, the structural factors — the ones that consistently drive higher prices — are the result of deliberate policy decisions.

Start with what is directly built into the price of every gallon.

California’s gas taxes alone add up quickly. The state excise tax is roughly 58 cents per gallon. Add in a sales tax that varies by location, often around 10 percent. Then include California’s cap-and-trade (now rebranded as the “cap and invest”) program, which adds another estimated 20 to 30 cents per gallon. The state’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard contributes roughly another 20 cents or more.

Taken together, these policies push the government-driven portion of the price well past $1 per gallon — before accounting for the base cost of fuel.

These are not market outcomes. They are policy-imposed costs, enacted and expanded by California’s Democratic supermajority.

That is the visible part.

Then there is the hidden cost........

© New York Post