San Diego, CA. - Former San Diego City Councilman Carl Demaio knows what's at stake.
Repealing the Gas Tax in California with the Yes on Prop. 6 is his number one goal, but it's the second, unintended piece of Prop. 6, that will garner national headlines.
The long and short of Prop. 6 is it requires voter approval for fuel and car taxes and applies retroactively to 2017. That would all but eliminate the taxes and fees accumulated through the Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017, also known as SB 1.
Demaio is taking Yes on 6 to the voters. He joined our IVN Podcast from the road to talk about what he feels is the importance of undoing what Sacramento has done. "Just in the past week we've been from San Diego to Orange County, Ventura, L.A., Santa Clarita, Bakersfield, Fresno. And what we're doing is we're convening these meetings to see who would like to be part of the grassroots campaign that we've got going." Demaio continued, "We do not have millions of dollars that Jerry Brown and the Sacramento special interests have to run deceptive and misleading ads, and so what we have to do is go back to grassroots campaigning and build a strong network of citizen activists all around the state."
He says there are really two simple reasons why Californians should repeal the gas and car tax hikes:
- the tax hike will cost the typical family of four $779.28 more per year in taxes and,
- it won’t fix our roads – this is a blank check tax hike that has already been diverted away from road repairs
Listen to the IVN Podcast:
Demaio on FoxNews
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzXoUgc5fMQ&feature=youtu.be
Gas Tax Repeal Not Partisan Fight?
DeMaio said boosting GOP voter turnout in November is not the priority and this is not a partisan fight.
“The media like to see this from a partisan lens. It’s not,” DeMaio said. “It’s a grassroots rebellion against traditional politics in California.”
In media interviews, Robert Shrum, director of USC’s Director of the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics, said while the gas tax “is in clear trouble,” he doesn’t think Prop. 6 will have “a profound impact” on the election.
Shrum said opposition to the gas tax increase is not partisan and includes a significant number of Hispanics, a traditionally Democratic voting bloc. “That’s telling you right away it’s not an issue that drives one group of people."
Impact of Gas Prices
Another wrinkle in the debate is the price of gas.
If it continues to rise, voter turnout will likely be higher says Jack Pitney, a professor of politics at Claremont McKenna College, perhaps bringing more impact to the election.
“If gas prices continue to rise, the issue will have more impact,” he said. “But if prices level off or even drop by October, then the repeal movement will lose a great deal of energy.”