Why is gasoline price in california and Washington state so much higher than national average?

[strateguy632]

Unbelievable! national average is today (4/12) $4.13 (just 11 cents more than end of march 2 weeks ago) but california $6?

In picture why?

[MrOracle]

California forced (via regulations) a custom blend of gas that isn't required in any other state, which means that California cannot buy gas from other states even when California has a shortage and other states have a surplus.

California also has traditionally supplied gas to most western states including Washington, Oregon, Nevada, and Arizona - but Gavin Newsom pushed through new regulations with a huge fine structure that has caused 2 of California's remaining 9 refineries to close, and several others have already warned that they are also planning to leave. This has reduced the supply of gas to those western states, requiring more gas to be imported from other countries (at a higher cost) to make up for the shortage.

Finally, California has - BY FAR - the highest percentage of state taxes on gasoline - and the higher the price of gas, the more taxes the state gets because the taxes scale with the price of gas.

Essentially, it's all because of government interference and poor governance.

[LiamJHayden]

California is because of state taxes and the regulations that have forced most of the refineries out of state. We used to produce 80% of state needs. Now we import 70%.

[Julie_TS]

CA typically has the highest gas prices in the US due to a combination of having the highest taxes on gas, environmental regulation fees, etc that account for over more than an extra dollar per gallon.

[Julie_TS]

Thanks so much for the MHO!!!

[strateguy632]

Best explanation. You earned it!

[Horsegirly2001]

Im guessing they slap on extra tax.

[exitseven]

Calaifornioa adds over a dollar a gallon for all the different taxes related to gasoline.

[Jeff51]

Cause we are special lol. There screwing us more here.

[strateguy632]

Yep also in Biden-d time $6.44 yikes!