This op-ed originally appeared on BudgetWatchdogs.org
The “Car Tax” is back but may be on life support. Assembly Bill 8, a “gut and amend” bill that failed during the final hours of last year’s session, would increase or extend $2.3 billion of fees on car owners until 2024 – an eight year extension from the original expiration date of 2016. The bill was set for hearing earlier this month, suggesting that the necessary number of votes (in this case 2/3, or 54 votes in the Assembly) had been lined up to ensure passage. Curiously, the hearing has now been put off until April.
The bill extends a number of fees, most notably for tires, vehicles and boats. Your tax dollars under AB 8 will go towards building a hydrogen highway, AB 32 (global warming law) programs, emission reduction programs and alternative fuel programs.
Do you need a hydrogen highway? Does a state with nearly 10% unemployment and the highest taxed state in the nation need more taxes? With AB 8, the estimated cost to the taxpayer would be $20 per car annually. Sounds like a small amount, but the burden of paying more for an ineffective state government doesn’t ever seem to end.
There are rarely any “new” bill ideas in the Capitol, most are recycled ideas from years past, and AB 8 is no exception. Last August, a very similar measure failed to muster enough votes and when the clock struck midnight, the measure died with the two year session. Now the car tax is back calling to mind Vince Lombardi’s famous line, “We didn’t lose the game, we just ran out of time.”
Legislators will now have another chance to vote, and believe it or not, the vote is tough for many in rural districts. Last year, the agricultural and trucking industries were being besieged by the Air Resources Board (ARB) for more requirements to reduce emissions by retrofitting equipment and complying with strict diesel regulations. Members from rural districts supported the legislation for this very reason. Both industries continue to have concerns that ARB regulations will kill jobs in their sectors.
Everyone wants clean air and a better environment, but AB 8 and ARB policy ignores the huge leaps we have made in cleaner fuels and more efficient machinery. In the case of the trucking industry, ARB retrofitting mandates for some companies will be so high that a vehicles trade-in value will be valueless, effectively driving the trade-in value and the company’s investment down to zero.
The public should be highly skeptical of a $2.3 billion tax that assures (but does not guarantee) regulatory relief. The bill presents a false choice, and history has shown that promises of regulatory or business relief can be yanked away with a simple majority vote while the taxes remain in place.
Californians in all areas should implore their representatives to reject this blanket tax increase. Outside of the state Capitol most people would say they are already paying enough, and they know a bait and switch when they see one.