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Californians are conserving fuel and being penalized for it!!!!  We are going to be made to make up budget shortfall for conserving!!!

As if we don’t already pay enough for gas in California, come this summer we may be taxed on it even more by the state.

The tax Californians pay for each gallon of gas they buy — called the excise tax — is expected to increase 3.5 cents per gallon in July to 39.5 cents per gallon.

The state Board of Equalization — charged with setting the rate since 2010 — will meet Tuesday in Culver City to consider about a 10 percent increase because previous tax collections fell short of budgeted amounts. The excise tax isn’t the only one we pay at the pump. The state also charges 2.25 percent in sales tax, and the federal government charges 18.4 cents per gallon in excise tax.

So how much more will you pay? If you’re like most Americans, you drive an average of 15,000 miles per year. And if you figure you get 20 miles per gallon, that means you’d buy 750 gallons of gasoline. Under the current system, with the average gallon of gas in California costing $4.217, over the year you would buy $3,162 in gas, including $408 in federal and state excise taxes, and about $70 in state sales tax.

That doesn’t include local taxes, like the half-cent San Diego charges. If the California Board of Equalization approves the rate increase, the extra tax would kick in an additional $26.25 over the year.

California’s gas prices are routinely among the highest in the nation, and so is its gas tax.

In a ranking of states released last month, the American Petroleum Institute showed California trailing only New York in combined excise, state and local taxes. Should California’s 3.5 cent increase go through, however, the Golden State would be the most expensive.

The increase would be the second state tax hike Californians would see this year after the passage of Proposition 30, which raised the sales tax a quarter percent. The jump would affect only those who buy regular gasoline.

Those who buy diesel will see a 1.94 percent increase in their sales tax in July, but the excise tax rate — 10 cents — is not expected to increase, a Board of Equalization memorandum says.

The 3.5 cent increase would be the largest since the state Legislature switched the gas-taxation system in 2010, when it lowered the sales tax to 2.25 percent from 8.25 percent. At the same time, it roughly doubled the excise tax to 35.3 cents per gallon.

Read more at: http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2013/feb/24/tp-expect-even-higher-prices-at-the-pump/?print&page=all

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