Bipartisan Road Repair Deal Now Considered Unlikely California State legislature

[bing101]

http://www.capradio.org/articles/2015/09/08/bipartisan-road-repair-deal-now-considered-unlikely/

THis is about Road repair funding in California and its $3.6 in tax revenue from gas taxes and Vehicle fees.

[MaxConcrete]

"It would raise $3.6 billion through a variety of sources, including higher gas taxes and vehicle fees."

Aren't California gas taxes already quite high? My understanding is that sales taxes are applied to gasoline, which jacks up effective tax rate.

I don't know about the auto registration fee in California - if it is low, that could be more feasible. In Texas, auto registration is quite low, between $50 and $60 per year (plus inspection, which varies from $25 to $40 depending on location). I can see a $50 registration fee going up to $75 or $80. In fact, I would like to see that in Texas to raise more revenue.
 

[CtrlAltDel]

I don't know about the auto registration fee in California - if it is low, that could be more feasible. In Texas, auto registration is quite low, between $50 and $60 per year (plus inspection, which varies from $25 to $40 depending on location). I can see a $50 registration fee going up to $75 or $80. In fact, I would like to see that in Texas to raise more revenue.

California's registration fees are already more than that. I paid $110 last year plus another $50 (to a private mechanic) for a smog test.

And that's the low end, because my car is old and cheap. In California, cars pay a percentage of their purchase price in registration fees every year, with that percentage decreasing each year for 11 years, where it bottoms out. If I'm looking at things right, a brand new $30,000 car would pay $296 in fees if its owner lived in the same zip code as I did. The next year, that car would pay $276.

[Rothman]

Aren't California gas taxes already quite high?
 

Only in comparison to other state's rates.  However, across the board, gas tax rates are woefully inadequate (or revenues are sucked off to fund other non-transportation purposes) to handle current costs to maintain the infrastructure.

[sdmichael]

I don't know about the auto registration fee in California - if it is low, that could be more feasible. In Texas, auto registration is quite low, between $50 and $60 per year (plus inspection, which varies from $25 to $40 depending on location). I can see a $50 registration fee going up to $75 or $80. In fact, I would like to see that in Texas to raise more revenue.

California's registration fees are already more than that. I paid $110 last year plus another $50 (to a private mechanic) for a smog test.

And that's the low end, because my car is old and cheap. In California, cars pay a percentage of their purchase price in registration fees every year, with that percentage decreasing each year for 11 years, where it bottoms out. If I'm looking at things right, a brand new $30,000 car would pay $296 in fees if its owner lived in the same zip code as I did. The next year, that car would pay $276.

VLF (or Vehicle License Fee) doesn't change by zip codes. It is based on the purchase price of the car and starts as 0.65% of the price. The only difference a zip code makes with vehicle registrations are county fees, which don't really vary that much aside from being an urban or rural county. VLF also has nothing to do with the age of the car. A 1905 car costing $20,000 will cost more for registration than a 2015 car costing $15,000.