Fredrick Rice: When gas prices go down, state should take in more in taxes

Re “Road repairs hit by dwindling gas taxes” (Page 1A, April 15): Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but the gas tax remains the same no matter if gas is $2 or $5 a gallon. The state gets its money and so do the feds.

Now when prices are low, people don’t watch their driving habits as closely as when the prices are high. So when prices are down people tend to drive more. It stands to reason that when prices are down, tax collections are up. When prices are up, people pay more attention to driving habits and adjust, driving less.

Another article I read stated the newer vehicles are more gas-efficient and electric cars are taking a bite out of tax collections. Then I read an article on Tesla and their goals to manufacture 200,000 vehicles in the near future. There was some doubt placed on their ability to do this, and if they did it wouldn’t make much of a dent in our green effort. So what I see here is an effort from the political establishment to pull the wool over our eyes thinking we are unaware.

Editor’s note: California collects a per-gallon excise tax and fees of 40.6 cents, which is not based on price. It also collects 2.25 percent sales tax, which is based on the price per gallon.

This story was originally published April 22, 2016 at 5:31 PM with the headline "Fredrick Rice: When gas prices go down, state should take in more in taxes."