KEY FACTS
THOUSANDS OF JOBS AT STAKE
A study of a similar tax proposal concluded that about 9,850 jobs would be lost due to decreased in-state production.
• Thousands of working men and women would lose not only their jobs, but the critically important benefits they and their families rely on – like health insurance.
• These jobs would go to other states and countries with less costly taxes – a logical conclusion since a severance tax of this nature would make California’s oil production the highest taxed in the country.
LOCAL COMMUNITIES LOSE … ALMOST $16 MILLION A YEAR IN KERN COUNTY ALONE!
• State revenues would decline by hundreds of millions a year, increasing budget deficits and leading to cuts in services.
• Local governments will lose property tax revenues if a state oil tax is imposed, most of which would be lost to local schools.
• Kern County alone could expect to lose between $12.7 and $15.9 million annually according to one study.
FLAWED ASSUMPTIONS
AB 1604 perpetuates misinformation about how oil is taxed in California. Here are the facts:
• California’s oil production is already among the most heavily taxed in the country.
• California drivers already pay the highest gasoline and diesel taxes in the country and among the highest fuel prices.
• The new oil tax would make California’s combined taxes on petroleum the highest in the nation.
KILLING JOBS WON’T SOLVE THE STATE’S BUDGET CRISIS
• The Legislature raised taxes by an unprecedented $12.5 billion a year in 2009, promising it would close the budget gap. Instead, the non-partisan Legislative Analyst reports the state can expect budget deficits of over $20 billion a year for the foreseeable future.
• Politicians have started taking more money out of workers’ paychecks, essentially borrowing money from struggling taxpayers to prop up the government’s wasteful spending habits.
• The oil tax won’t raise nearly enough to cover the chronic state budget deficit, and there’s no guarantee of how the money will be spent.
• Raising taxes and killing jobs will prolong the recession and delay the economic recovery that is needed to put people back to work and provide the revenues to reduce the state’s budget deficit.
Download our Fact Sheet here.
Proposed new taxes on oil and gasoline will kill jobs and drive gas prices higher. In some cases they could cost local governments millions a year in tax revenues, or cost local drivers millions more at the pump.
