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> California's legislative leaders have known for months but did not make the issue public. Why would they give up a chance to make more money from the people?

> California's legislative leaders have known for months but did not make the issue public. Why would they give up a chance to make more money from the people? The government never misses an opportunity to pad its coffers. Reminds me of the CA State Parks department, which squirreled away millions of dollars and then was crying about lack of funding and hence wanted to shut down some parks.

xp84 6mo ago
Fun fact: I recently vacationed in Hawaii and couldn’t help but notice, despite groceries costing about 2x, gas there is a dollar cheaper than at home in California. California just can’t get enough tax money.
- reducesuffering 6mo ago
  Not really a fact, more of a bad anecdote. Currently HI gas is just $0.17 cheaper than CA, and I see many CA gas stations at $5.09, just like HI. A decent chunk of that comes from strict CA low pollution refining, you know, to help you breath better... https://gasprices.aaa.com/state-gas-price-averages/ https://gasprices.aaa.com/state-gas-price-averages/
  - xp84 5mo ago
    5.09 - lol, ok maybe in the rural parts of the state or something. In L.A. it's $5.50 at the very cheapest stations (read: go out of your way and maybe waste 10 minutes waiting, then wait in line to pay cash) and even Bakersfield is about $5.25 minimum. $5.60-5.75 is what I see on most normal stations. The refining regulations are so great that they have succeeded in forcing nearly every refinery here to close now, so I guess gas prices can just go asymptotic, since California only allows this special unicorn gas, and I doubt any of these oil companies are going to open a new refinery in Arizona to make this special formulation, when they're closing the refineries here that used to make it. Maybe Sacramento can buy the closed refineries and restart them at great taxpayer expense and create our version of state-owned oil companies, except instead of printing money they'll be printing debt.
    - reducesuffering 5mo ago
      Nope, wrong again. In the middle of urban Bay Area. Again, with all those refining regulations, the data still says $0.17 off Hawaii.
      - xp84 5mo ago
        I don't know where you're getting your "data" from or if there's some bias making you not want to believe we're getting ripped off, but I can definitely provide very real data: https://www.gasbuddy.com/gasprices/hawaii/kahului https://www.gasbuddy.com/gasprices/hawaii/kahului Safeway 4.89 / Costco 4.75 https://www.gasbuddy.com/gasprices/california/san-mateo/2159 https://www.gasbuddy.com/gasprices/california/san-mateo/2159 https://www.gasbuddy.com/gasprices/california/daly-city https://www.gasbuddy.com/gasprices/california/daly-city 7-Eleven 5.79 / Costco 5.39 / Chevron: 6.15 https://www.gasbuddy.com/gasprices/california/mission-viejo https://www.gasbuddy.com/gasprices/california/mission-viejo 5.49 - 6.29 in Mission Viejo.
- verteu 6mo ago
  The best comparison is probably "overall tax burden": https://taxfoundation.org/data/all/state/tax-burden-by-state-2022/ https://taxfoundation.org/data/all/state/tax-burden-by-state... When you include all taxes (eg property tax), there's surprisingly little variation between states: For example, TX is 6th-lowest at 8.6% of income, while CA is 46th-lowest at 13.5% of income. Hawaii is 48th-lowest at 14.1%

xp84 6mo ago

Fun fact: I recently vacationed in Hawaii and couldn’t help but notice, despite groceries costing about 2x, gas there is a dollar cheaper than at home in California. California just can’t get enough tax money.

reducesuffering 6mo ago
Not really a fact, more of a bad anecdote. Currently HI gas is just $0.17 cheaper than CA, and I see many CA gas stations at $5.09, just like HI. A decent chunk of that comes from strict CA low pollution refining, you know, to help you breath better... https://gasprices.aaa.com/state-gas-price-averages/ https://gasprices.aaa.com/state-gas-price-averages/
- xp84 5mo ago
  5.09 - lol, ok maybe in the rural parts of the state or something. In L.A. it's $5.50 at the very cheapest stations (read: go out of your way and maybe waste 10 minutes waiting, then wait in line to pay cash) and even Bakersfield is about $5.25 minimum. $5.60-5.75 is what I see on most normal stations. The refining regulations are so great that they have succeeded in forcing nearly every refinery here to close now, so I guess gas prices can just go asymptotic, since California only allows this special unicorn gas, and I doubt any of these oil companies are going to open a new refinery in Arizona to make this special formulation, when they're closing the refineries here that used to make it. Maybe Sacramento can buy the closed refineries and restart them at great taxpayer expense and create our version of state-owned oil companies, except instead of printing money they'll be printing debt.
  - reducesuffering 5mo ago
    Nope, wrong again. In the middle of urban Bay Area. Again, with all those refining regulations, the data still says $0.17 off Hawaii.
    - xp84 5mo ago
      I don't know where you're getting your "data" from or if there's some bias making you not want to believe we're getting ripped off, but I can definitely provide very real data: https://www.gasbuddy.com/gasprices/hawaii/kahului https://www.gasbuddy.com/gasprices/hawaii/kahului Safeway 4.89 / Costco 4.75 https://www.gasbuddy.com/gasprices/california/san-mateo/2159 https://www.gasbuddy.com/gasprices/california/san-mateo/2159 https://www.gasbuddy.com/gasprices/california/daly-city https://www.gasbuddy.com/gasprices/california/daly-city 7-Eleven 5.79 / Costco 5.39 / Chevron: 6.15 https://www.gasbuddy.com/gasprices/california/mission-viejo https://www.gasbuddy.com/gasprices/california/mission-viejo 5.49 - 6.29 in Mission Viejo.
verteu 6mo ago
The best comparison is probably "overall tax burden": https://taxfoundation.org/data/all/state/tax-burden-by-state-2022/ https://taxfoundation.org/data/all/state/tax-burden-by-state... When you include all taxes (eg property tax), there's surprisingly little variation between states: For example, TX is 6th-lowest at 8.6% of income, while CA is 46th-lowest at 13.5% of income. Hawaii is 48th-lowest at 14.1%