Home California Letter: Assemblyman Frazier’s Opponent Blasts Massive Tax Hike Proposal

Letter: Assemblyman Frazier’s Opponent Blasts Massive Tax Hike Proposal

by ECT

Fairfield, California — There are two undisputed facts that everyone should know.

California has the highest Gas Prices of any state that is not an island.  There are a number of reasons for this and all of them originated in our legislature.

Gas and Diesel taxes hurt the working poor more than any other group.  The working poor are more likely to commute farther for work -that alone is enough of a burden, they have to drive more.  In addition to that, increasing the Diesel tax means that it costs more to deliver goods and services.  Businesses pass along the higher delivery cost to customers in the form of higher prices.  Which means our dollars don’t go as far as they used to.

Assemblyman Frazier, the chairman of the Transportation Committee, knows this.  He just doesn’t care.  He knows that the people that will be the most affected by this are too busy trying as hard as they can to eek out a living that they don’t have the time or money to pay attention.

Knowing that, yesterday Assemblyman Frazier joined with State Senator Jim Beall, according to the LA Times, to unveil their new gas tax plan.  Here are some highlights:

  • Additional 17 cent per gallon tax on gasoline.
  • Additional 30 cent per gallon tax on diesel.
  • $165 annual fee added to the registration fees for electric cars.
  • The creation of a new political bureaucracy – The Office of Transportation Inspector General. (I wonder how much of the new gas tax will have to be used to pay for that…)

Assemblyman Frazier is hoping that no one notices another key point of his tax plan.  It is designed to increase inflation annually thus triggering a higher tax on gasoline automatically.   Inflation is calculated by looking at the Consumer Price Index.  The more things cost – the higher inflation is.  So he is going to increase the costs of all goods and services by increasing the cost of fuel.  By tying his tax to inflation Assemblyman Frazier is taking his planned price increases for all goods and services -caused by his tax plan- and turning them into a self-fulfilling prophecy of ever increasing gas taxes and higher inflation.

This is not his first attempt to increase the tax on each gallon of gasoline. On January 6th of 2016 Assemblyman Frazier introduced AB-1591 which would have increased the tax on gasoline by 22.5 cents per gallon and 30 cents per gallon of diesel.  In addition to the new gas tax AB-1591 would have increased the cost of annual vehicle registration from $38 to $165 depending on your vehicle.

Like his current proposal AB-1591 would have also been tied to inflation and automatically increased annually.  AB-1591 died in committee.  But Assemblyman Frazier told the L.A. Times that he would try to push for a lame duck session to get his new bill passed.

The big issue with trying to force it though a lame duck session is that you may end up with enough legislators that lost their elections, or decided to retire, that might vote for something that their constituencies do not want since there is no political consequence.

What Assemblyman Frazier is doing here is putting politics before people.

As many of you know Assemblyman Frazier has skipped out on two scheduled debates with me.  The most recent he had a fellow democrat try to come to his aide by saying that he was stuck in a committee hearing.  When the truth is that he had an hour and 45-minutes after the conclusion of his meeting to get just 35-miles.  Even if he hadn’t left the capitol for 30-minutes after his hearing and got caught in traffic, and hit every red light,  he still would have been able to make it to the debate.

So I have issued a challenge, anytime, anywhere! I will debate Mr. Frazier anytime, anywhere! But he is too scared to debate a serious contender that knows the Assemblyman’s record better than the Assemblyman himself does.

For more on Dave Miller, you may visit his campaign website.

The following letter was sent by Dave Miller, candidate for California State Assembly, District 11

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6 comments

Yawn Aug 19, 2016 - 6:55 am

Mr. Miller, you had me up until your last paragraph. Calling him too scared to debate you because he has better things to do shows me that you may be too immature for the office. Debating you would provide no value to him. He has a 20% democratic lead on you.

A Real True Thought Aug 19, 2016 - 8:09 pm

Is that you, Frazier! Remember that the people placed you there and they can remove you as well!

Sigh Aug 19, 2016 - 8:04 am

Is that you Jim?

Julio Aug 19, 2016 - 9:15 am

I am left with no one to vote for here.

Sean Maguid Aug 19, 2016 - 3:43 pm

What Assembly member Frazier is doing is trying to find valid methods to repair California’s deteriorating roads and bridges. The unspoken truth is the gas tax has not been increased since 1994. The nearly extinct Republicans have by obstruction denied many attempts to improve transportation infrastructure. But, the roads will not fix themselves and not addressing the issue will put all our lives in danger.

California has many items needing improvement. Taxes are the way we pay for our civilization. Do we want smooth, safe roads and bridges or do we decline into a 3rd world environment? If we choose the later we will be leaving a tarnished legacy to future generations.

A Real True Thought Aug 19, 2016 - 8:13 pm

Share me, you all are Gold Diggers on us tax payers. You are the upper leeches of government, ducking the system dry and then wanting more free cash. Go get a real job!

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