FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) — Pain at the pump.
“Everything costs more in California,” Fresno resident Max Emberton said.
The annual automatic state gasoline excise tax is set to impact gas prices on Tuesday by 1.6 cents.
Drivers in northeast Fresno say they’re disappointed to see prices rise.
“I do get frustrated when I feel like the gas prices are artificially inflated. They’re not reflective of what the oil market is,” Clovis resident Sherry Baxter said.
The annual state tax is paid by California drivers to fix roadways across the state.
In addition to the annual state gas tax, the California Air Resource Board plans to roll out rules under its Low Carbon Fuel Standard.
The guideline requires a cut to carbon emissions, which will impact driver’s pockets.
Experts say it’s unknown exactly how high prices will go under this regulation.
Matt McClain from GasBuddy says it’s the guidelines and taxes that make gas notoriously expensive for California drivers.
“This creates a higher price point in California than really most any other state in the United States,” he said. “And the reason behind that is pretty much the regulatory aspects of things that are taking place.”
As drivers brace for the rise in gas prices, local business owners are upset with everything seemingly going up in price.
“This is the wrong time to raise the gas for businesses and consumers,” Scott Miller says.
Scott Miller from the Fresno Chamber of Commerce says in some cases, higher gas prices will translate to higher costs for shoppers.
“For some businesses, it’ll be less profit. For some businesses, they’ll be passing the cost of the increase on to their customer. Either way, this is not something that we as California is really need right now,” he said.
GasBuddy is predicting a slight decrease in gas prices for California this week but those layers of guidelines and the annual tax will limit relief.
For news updates, follow Vince Ybarra on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Copyright © 2025 KFSN-TV. All Rights Reserved.