{"id":790808,"date":"2026-05-12T10:04:19","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T10:04:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/790808\/"},"modified":"2026-05-12T10:04:19","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T10:04:19","slug":"gavin-newsom-faces-calls-to-cancel-gas-tax-as-trump-acts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/790808\/","title":{"rendered":"Gavin Newsom faces calls to cancel gas tax as Trump acts"},"content":{"rendered":"

California Gov. Gavin Newsom is facing pressure to throw a lifeline to Californians struggling with highest-in-the-nation gas prices as President Donald Trump signed plans to suspend the federal gas tax<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Trump said Monday he plans to \u201ctake off the gas tax for a period of time\u201d \u2014 though he needs the backing of Congress \u2014 calling it a \u201cgreat idea\u201d to offer Americans relief at the pump. <\/p>\n

Newsom has no plans to follow suit in California \u2014 where gas prices<\/a> hovered at $6.16 per gallon Monday, well above the national average of $4.52, according to AAA.<\/p>\n

Trump called suspending the federal gas tax a \u201cgreat idea.\u201d Jen Golbeck\/SOPA Images\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

California drivers already shoulder the highest gas taxes in the country, which include an excise tax of 61 cents per gallon, sales taxes and other fees. The federal gas tax is 18 cents per gallon by comparison. <\/p>\n

\u201cI support any and all efforts to give Californians relief from high gas prices,\u201d Rep. Kevin Kiley, a Republican-leaning independent, told The Post. \u201cA pause in the federal tax would help, but the bigger problem is California\u2019s highest-in-the-nation state tax.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cI have introduced the Gas Tax Reduction Act to limit this tax and have called on state leaders to suspend the 61-cent-per-gallon tax in its entirety,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n

Gavin Newsom called Trump\u2019s gas tax announcement a \u201cgimmick\u201d that won\u2019t help consumers. REUTERS<\/p>\n

\u201c[The gas tax] is the most regressive tax in California\u2014working people, rural people are spending three times as much maintaining our roads as wealthier EV owners,\u201d said San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, a Dem candidate for governor, who\u2019s called to suspend and reform the gas tax. <\/p>\n

\u201cGavin Newsom should have suspended it, as I called upon him to do months ago. \u2029Now he has no excuse. What is wrong with Gavin Newsom?\u201d said Steve Hilton, Republican candidate for governor. <\/p>\n

Californians face gas prices well above $6 per gallon. CA Post<\/p>\n

The federal gas tax has been in place since the 1990s, and generates up to $40 billion annually to support the Highway Trust Fund, which pays for road maintenance and construction. <\/p>\n

Temporarily suspending the federal gas tax likely requires approval from Congress. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) said on social media that he would introduce legislation to accomplish that when Congress reconvenes this week, and\u00a0Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) announced similar plans. <\/p>\n

Democrats, including Sens. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), sponsored a bill to suspend the gas tax in March. <\/p>\n

California gas prices have soared to staggering levels since the Iran war. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Newsom\u2019s office called Trump\u2019s announcement a \u201cdistraction\u201d and a \u201cgimmick\u201d that would not help motorists.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s be clear about the math: the federal gas tax is 18 cents a gallon. Trump\u2019s Iran War surcharge? According to GasBuddy, it\u2019s adding roughly $1.35 per gallon right now, costing American drivers\u00a0$571 million today alone,\u201d said Newsom spokesperson Anthony Martinez.<\/p>\n

\u201cNext week is National Infrastructure Week, and we are reminded that Trump couldn\u2019t pass an infrastructure bill during his entire first term,\u201d Martinez added. \u201cNow he wants to raid the very fund that pays for America\u2019s roads and bridges. He\u2019s not offering relief. He\u2019s offering a photo op while weakening our country at home and on the world stage.\u201d<\/p>\n

A gas tax suspension would eliminate funding for road and bridge repairs, and there\u2019s no guarantee that fuel companies would pass savings on to consumers, Newsom\u2019s office claimed. <\/p>\n

Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has also resisted calls to pause the gas tax, questioning whether a prior effort in 2022 after the Russian invasion of Ukraine was much of a help for consumers, according to Politico<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Much of California\u2019s oil supply arrives by ship through the Strait of Hormuz. REUTERS<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s Interior Secretary Doug Burgum blasted Newsom for creating an energy \u201cisland\u201d and complaining about rising gas prices since the Iran war. <\/p>\n

Michelle Laila, a student in California, filled up her vehicle Monday when The Post asked her about the rising prices. \u201cI think it\u2019s outrageous. I feel like it\u2019s not fair to people, especially the working folk, it\u2019s expensive and we can\u2019t go out and yeah, it\u2019s really unfair,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Michelle Laila expressed her concern about the rising prices as she filled up. CA Post<\/p>\n

California is more reliant on foreign oil than other states, thanks partly to the winding down of major refineries and a state mandate to achieve \u201cnet zero\u201d emissions by 2045 \u2014 leaving it exposed to price shocks. <\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, this was a condition that they created for themselves long before the current conflict, but it\u2019s going to get worse for them going forward and we\u2019re doing everything we can to try to help,\u201d Burgum told Breitbart News<\/a> in an interview Monday. <\/p>\n

Newsom was defiant about his administration\u2019s energy policies at a press conference in San Francisco last week.<\/p>\n

California\u2019s Cap-and-Invest program alone\u00a0adds at least 20 cents per gallon to fuel prices<\/a>\u00a0while increasing other costs, critics say. Newsom repeatedly pointed the finger at Trump. <\/p>\n

\u201cNow, as it relates to the cost of fuels, California hasn\u2019t changed anything as it relates to cost. Those baseline costs have been static. But the cost at the pump has not been, for one reason: Donald Trump\u2019s recklessness as it relates to the war in Iran,\u201d Newsom told reporters Friday. <\/p>\n

The California legislature has shown little appetite for suspending the gas tax, as a prior effort by state Sen. Tony Strickland was quickly killed in March<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"California Gov. Gavin Newsom is facing pressure to throw a lifeline to Californians struggling with highest-in-the-nation gas prices…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":790809,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[64,276,26769,1854,83,80,277,67,132,68,1154],"class_list":{"0":"post-790808","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-gas","11":"tag-gavin-newsom","12":"tag-iran","13":"tag-politics","14":"tag-trump","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-unitedstates","17":"tag-us","18":"tag-us-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116561043101289645","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/790808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=790808"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/790808\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/790809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=790808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=790808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=790808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}