WATCH: GOP lawmaker voices opposition to gas tax increase

By Madeline Shannon
The Center Square

California drivers can expect the state’s gas tax to go up 2.2 cents on July 1, which will bring the total tax to 63.4 cents a gallon.

That will drive up gas prices in the Golden State, which consistently has the nation’s highest prices, even further.

“For our hardworking California families – at a time when Democrats and Republicans say the No. 1 issue is affordability – we’re making it harder to make ends meet,” Sen. Tony Strickland, R-Huntington Beach, told The Center Square. “Our gas prices are astronomically high because of taxes – and also because we lost 20% of our oil production and we rely almost exclusively on foreign oil.”

Several other states, Strickland said, suspended their state gas taxes because gas prices in those states also rose. In Georgia, the Legislature temporarily suspended the Peach State’s gas tax after prices surpassed $3 a gallon, far lower than gas prices in California, according to previous reporting by The Center Square.

“Higher gas prices not only hurt those folks who use it at the pump, but also makes groceries cost a lot more,” Strickland said. “Your eggs, your milk, your vegetables, your fruit, higher gas prices get pushed on that. So you have higher grocery costs because of this.”

According to AAA, California’s gas prices went down slightly to $5.61 a gallon on Friday – down from $5.64 a gallon on Thursday. That itself is down from the average price of gas in California one month ago, when prices hit $6.15 a gallon. The national average on Friday was $3.97 a gallon.

Mono County had the most expensive gas prices in California on Friday, according to AAA, which saw the average gallon of gas cost drivers $6.88. Other counties that saw some of the highest gas prices in the state on Friday were Inyo County, on the Nevada border and Sierra County in Northern California, at $6.22 a gallon. Trinity County, also in Northern California, saw average prices around $6.14 a gallon, while the counties of Humboldt and Nevada saw gas prices hover just over $6.

The lowest gas prices in the state were in the Northern California county of Yuba, which saw gas prices around $5.38 a gallon. Other counties in the southernmost part of the state saw slightly higher gas prices. San Bernardino County drivers paid $5.46 a gallon on Friday, while Imperial County saw an average of $5.47.

The gas tax increase could hurt drivers in rural communities the hardest, Strickland told The Center Square.

“They have to drive a lot,” senator said. “They have to drive more. It’s affecting everybody across the state of California. Look at what gas prices do. They fall disproportionately on those hardworking families that are living paycheck to paycheck.”

Representatives from AAA and the consumer savings company GasBuddy did not respond to The Center Square on Friday. California lawmakers on both sides of the aisle who have authored gas-related legislation also did not respond to The Center Square.