CA Gas prices

https://www.yahoo.com/gma/gas-prices-soar-record-levels-224300846.html

Article notes that CA has 51 cents/gallon or so in state gas tax. Also notes that CA gas prices are on average, $1.20 more per gallon than the nationwide average.

Geniuses of TW, how does that math add up? Gas prices in CA are attributed to taxes, but even 30 cents/gallon more in taxes than other states does not account for the insane prices.

 

Nope. They don't. Especially when... like say, Nevada. They have no oil refineries, yet the cost for gasoline price is 1$ to 1.50$ less than here.
So, we make the gas here in California, then ship/truck it to another state and it's cheaper than where it's made

 

Yeah… I thought about this a while back filling up at Sams Club, where they post the tax break down.

But CA is a great state. Right? Right???

 

Nah man, it’s already sold by now for 6 million

 

Meh, it's fine. We just either physically work more, make our money work for itself more, or look over our budget more closely and relocate expenses...or a combination of the three.

 

You forgot the best option… move.

 

How else will they get people to buy more electric cars?

 

Seems like every fourth car in SoCal is a Tesla these days.

But not if the cost of electricity keeps going up as well.

 

TBH, it's not much better anywhere. If your state is cheaper to live in, it's because the majority make less. Montana is getting over ran thanks to stupid fucking TV shows and now everyone thinks they are going to come here and live that life. One winter later they realize they can't afford it and end up staying inside every winter just trying to keep the electric bill down because they don't know how to gather firewood.

You can run, but unless you are prepared to go to drastic measures, you can't hide. Embrace the suck.

 

How much is gas these days in MT? Last summer I paid down to under 3 bucks a gallon. A lot for the region, but cheapppp coming from CA.

And I agree to a certain extent. Wages are less in MT than CA. But CA nails you from every angle. Sales tax (+10% in certain parts of LA county). High income tax. Crazy high gas prices. Blah blah blah. At least in MT you get the relief of no sales tax.

 

Who's moving where now? Not I

 

That’s ok. I hear MT is closed anyways

 

Nobody’s making you move here. It is a great state (for me). It doesn’t have to be for everyone.

 

And they drive worse than people in a Prius..
This is what it looks like in L.A.

 

Missing the spirit of my post.

Point was that CA taxes it’s citizens to the extremes, to the point that most people in desired areas cannot/will never be able to purchase a home or really do more than “get by”. Their money is going to $5/gallon gas, 10% sales tax, etc.

If it works for an individual, that is (genuinely) awesome. I am more arguing that for the majority of people, the state is overpriced/overcrowded, and many stay because it is all they have known and will every know.

They are all so bad that I don’t notice a difference

Is that the normal price in LA? I’ve yet to see it that bad on average.

 

Born and raised in California, DO NOT call it Cali.
Yes, it is expensive as hell; and we are taxed like crazy. Besides that ~51 cents per gallon we have usually 8-10% sales tax on all of that.
Gas costs more here than "it should" and investigations never prove why or that the oil companies are colluding to raise prices.
The simple answer is they don't have to illegally collude. They all just raise prices and watch each other without talking to each other.

My wife and I both have "good jobs" yet we have never owned a single family house and probably never will. It's a struggle all the time to get by.

The way I look at it, we pay the climate tax. Everything is expensive, and because everything is expensive, everyone gets paid more and the cycle continues.

Where I live in South OC, I can ride my MTB right out my door to some good trails, or my road bike on some good roads. I'm 10 miles from the beach. I can paddle my SUP year round. I'm only an hour drive from decent winter snow for skiing, I can drive away from it just as easily and not shovel a driveway. It only gets below freezing a few nights every few years or so, only tops 100 a dozen or so days a year. Rarely humid.

Not only have I surfed and skiied on the same day, we once surfed, skiied, and surfed in the same day just because.

Yeah, gas prices suck, but overall I wouldn't want to live anywhere else.

 

Simple, demand. Prices are set by the energy companies and retailers to match that demand. We drive a lot, nearly 40M people live here and demand drives prices. In our Capitalist society that is how it works. Sure, the state takes their cut. The rest (and majority of the price) goes to the corporations who are really savvy at exercising their pricing power.

Want lower prices - drive less, buy an electric car (lower gas demand), move out of the region. I moved here from Midwest and the entire population of Iowa is the same as just Orange County. Guess what - everything is cheaper in Iowa. And, as others have noted, so are the wages.

After-post addition - It’s really proof that our Capitalist markets work. Always have, I anticipate always will. Car prices, Gas prices, food prices, housing prices and, even wages.

Now, let’s say California cut it’s gas tax by $0.20 per gallon. Gas prices will be less, but not by $0.20 per gallon. The demand is still there, so the corporations and retailers will still price as high as possible and use the retained portion of the $0.20 raise their profits.

As consumers our only tool is lower gasoline demand. Energy is a private enterprise with the goal of maximizing revenue and profit.

 

Pretty much why Arizona housing has more than doubled in two years

 

“It's a struggle all the time to get by.”

Understood that you and many others love the state. But if the state in which you love and plan to never leave is so expensive, to the point that it’s always a struggle to get by, well something is wrong.

Gas prices are indicative of the larger problem. Rising costs, crazy taxes, housing market through the roof. By sticking around and paying the costs, we are only contributing to the problem.

This thread was about gas prices, right? They are too expensive! /thread