No on I-2117: CCA not to blame for price of gas

Published 1:30 am Thursday, October 10, 2024

Voting yes on ballot Initiative 2117, and dismantling Washington’s Climate Commitment Act will not save Washingtonians any money at the gas pump. While supporters argue that cap and invest is a “hidden gas tax,” nothing could be further from the truth.

Washington has some of the most expensive fuel in America because of a high gasoline tax, 49.4 cents per gallon, the fourth-highest in the nation. This tax has nothing to do with the Climate Commitment Act. The gas tax was raised to 49.4 cents per gallon in 2016, five years before the Climate Commitment Act was even passed, and it has been untouched since.

While polluters in Washington are taxed on their carbon emissions, there is no evidence that fuel prices have risen as a result. In 2021 and 2022, fuel prices rose precipitously, but so did oil companies’ profit margins. Inflation was merely used as an excuse to pad the bottom line.

The same people who gouged consumers during the pandemic are now hoping that voters will trust them to lower fuel prices, in exchange for polluting without financial consequence. Nobody should trust them. Vote no on Initiative 2117.

Elliot Hazard

Edmonds