ICYMI: Wall Street Journal: Editorial Board

“Gavin Newsom’s Latest Tax Increase”

SACRAMENTO – A recent editorial by the Wall Street Journal accurately calls out California Governor Gavin Newsom’s “price gouging penalty” for what it really is, a new tax increase:

“California Gov. Gavin Newsom is pushing another tax increase, not that he wants to admit it. Last week he asked his Democratic Legislature to pass a ‘price gouging penalty’—don’t call it a tax—on oil companies ‘excess profits.’ Is he trying to raise the state’s sky-high gas prices even more?”

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“California requires a special ‘cleaner’ fuel that refiners outside the state don’t make. The state’s climate regulations have driven several to shut down or convert to producing biofuels. California lost 12% of refining capacity in the last four years and is set to lose another 8% by the end of next year.”

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“If the Governor wants to reduce gas prices, the solution is to expand the fuel supply by easing costly climate regulations and encouraging investment in refining. His profits tax—sorry, ‘penalty’—would do the opposite.”

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“Mr. Newsom calls it a penalty rather than a tax because the latter requires a legislative super-majority to pass. Even though Democrats have a super-majority, moderates from lower-income areas are loath to vote for legislation that would raise gas prices, as Mr. Newsom’s tax would do.”

Read the full editorial here: wsj.com.

Californians Against Higher Taxes is a statewide coalition of more than 24,000 California taxpayers and nearly 200 organizations and companies led by CalTax, the California Chamber of Commerce, the California Manufacturers & Technology Association, and the California Business Roundtable.