Help stop the proposed California tax on driving

February 9, 2026

Andy Caldwell

OPINION by ANDY CALDWELL

If California legislators have their way, in effect, every road in our state will become a toll road, including your own driveway! That is because all those democrats clamoring about the affordability crisis are simultaneously planning on creating a vehicle-miles-traveled tax or VMT.

A VMT would be a new tax that would tax you for every mile you drive. For two car families, it is estimated that it will cost your family a minimum of $4,000 per year in extra taxes.

Businesses could expect to pay much more based on their need to rack up more miles than the average commuter or family.

Of course, this tax would be on top of all the other taxes you are already paying to have the privilege of driving on our undersized, potholed-filled streets, highways, and freeways throughout the state.

Currently, we pay the highest gas taxes in America at the pump, over 70 cents per gallon in state taxes, while people in Alaska, for instance, pay nine cents per gallon.  But on top of that, we pay a federal excise tax, a low carbon fuel tax, plus local taxes.

All in all, we pay over $1.30 in taxes for every gallon of gas we purchase. That is the highest in the land, resulting in the highest gas prices.

And now they want to double up on these taxes by charging us by the mile too?

The point lost on most consumers: The price per gallon of gas doesn’t differ all that much between the states. It is the cost of government (regulations, fees, and taxes) that causes our gas prices to be nearly double those of the rest of the country.

These additional charges would include, for instance, Santa Barbara County’s countywide tax on all purchases that adds up to $1 billion over 30 years for transportation projects via Measure A.

And California voters also approved Senate Bill 1 that added another $50 billion in fuel taxes over 10 years for California drivers via a fuel tax and higher vehicle registration fees.

What’s worse? These tone-deaf legislators are moving this idea forward just in time for the refinery and pipeline closures in California that is estimated to cause gas prices to rise to $8 per gallon. 

Most of us who watch government foolishly thought that the state would apply a VMT tax only on electric vehicles since they don’t pay at the pump. But so far, that is not in the proposal. Nor is there any discussion about eliminating the state gas tax and going all in with just the VMT for all vehicles.

Sacramento legislators are getting hammered and rightly so because the current bill is an insult to taxpayers in general, and to all the people forced to commute a long way because of the price of housing and the associated housing shortages near where people work.

There is no better example of this on the Central Coast than the Santa Barbara, Goleta and San Luis Obispo job centers. Tens of thousands of people must commute to these communities because they can’t afford to live near their work and now California wants to tax their pain?

Please call Governor Newsom at (916) 445-2841 and urge him to threaten a veto of the VMT bill long before it has a chance to get to his desk!

Andy Caldwell is the executive director of COLAB in Santa Barbara County and host of The Andy Caldwell Radio Show, weekdays from 3-5 p.m. on  FM 98.5, FM 99.5, AM 1240, AM 1290 and FM 96.9.