Stay-home order could cost California $370 million in gas tax for road fixes: ‘A heavy hit’
California’s stay-at-home order could mean a loss of $370 million in funds that help pay for highway construction and maintenance as well as aid for transit, a new study from UC Davis’ Road Ecology Center reported Friday.
Researchers found that vehicle miles driven have plunged more than 75 percent in the state since the coronavirus outbreak shut down much of California in mid-March.
The state’s fuel tax revenue dropped from $61 million in early March to $15 million in the second week of April.
If Gov. Gavin Newsom’s stay at home order, which he announced March 19, stays in place for eight weeks, the researchers estimated a $370 million shortfall, or $46 million a week.
In 2017-18, state gasoline tax revenue was $6.4 billion. In 2019-20 and 2020-21, it was estimated to be $7.2 billion and $7.5 billion, respectively. The tax is one of several sources of revenue for the transportation program.
The California State Transportation Agency expects updated figures later this month.
The financial part of this we know is going to be a heavy hit,” Caltrans Director Toks Omishakin told the California Transportation Commission this week. “Our revenue is based on fuel consumption and will be affected.”
Combined with other fees state motorists pay, including a 47.3 cents a gallon gasoline tax and an 18.4 cents a gallon federal gasoline tax, California had the highest motor fuel taxes in the country, as of January 1, according to the American Petroleum Institute.
The motorfuel taxes help pay for the program enacted in Senate Bill 1 in 2017, which aimed to raise $5.4 billion annually for the state’s highway, bridge and transit systems, as well as on local streets and roads and multi-modal congestion relief corridors.
There could be some relief coming from Washington. The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. is pushing a nationwide $49.95 billion relief plan that would be included in the next economic aid package. So far, though, there’s been no serious movement on putting together that package.
This story was originally published May 1, 2020 at 1:54 PM with the headline "Stay-home order could cost California $370 million in gas tax for road fixes: ‘A heavy hit’."
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