32
survey response that the “Governor would not countenance a gasoline tax increase.” As Kaye
(2004) described, the Governor believed that other options (i.e., bonds, sales tax, etc.) should be
evaluated and implemented before increasing the gas tax statewide. In essence, increasing the
gas tax was seen as a last resort in the Governor’s office.
Furthermore, the gas tax was viewed by voters, as it is today, as a sensitive issue.
Following the fuel crisis of the late 1970s, the overall price of gasoline, let alone the taxation of
gasoline, was a salient issue for most Californians. During the 1980s, voters did not support an
increase in the gas tax, period. Legislators perceived that voters believed that the gas tax was
burdensome and not equitable. One Democratic legislator indicated that while state revenues
from the traditional sources were lagging, “it was impossible to get a gas tax increase through the
Legislature. The voters were vehemently opposed.” Another Democratic legislator put it quite
bluntly: It was “not politically possible to raise the gas tax.” Thus, the perception at the state
level was that unless all other options were tried, the gas tax should not be touched.
Public opinion data exhibit the same trends as described by the survey respondents.
Table 6 shows public opinion data captured across four years by the California Poll.
Respondents were asked to indicate whether they would support or oppose an increase to the
state gasoline tax in order to raise revenue for the state. Respondents consistently voiced their
opposition to increasing the state gas tax. Support for increasing the gas tax peaked in 1986 at
34%. When examining the data, however, a rapid decline in the number of respondents who
opposed increasing the gas tax is observed: The number of respondents who strongly opposed
increasing the gas tax declined by twenty percentage points from 1980 to 1986 from 58.1% to
38%. For the most part, those who moved from “oppose strongly” over time shifted into the
“favor” or “oppose somewhat” categories. Those who strongly favored increasing the gas tax
Convention