"Trip to DC Begs Question: Why Isn't California Like This?" by Daniel Guss
Cali's Political Triplex and Trifecta are costly, counterintuitive... and voluntary.
@TheGussReport — On my way back to LA from a weekend jaunt to the DC area, two pleasant epiphanies had me asking why isn’t blue nanny-state California like this?
Let’s start with two definitions from Ballotpedia:
A state government trifecta is when one political party holds majorities in both chambers of the state legislature and the governor's office
A state government triplex is when one political party holds the following three positions in a state's government: governor, attorney general, and secretary of state.
Sapphire-blue California not only has a Democratic trifecta and triplex, our legislature has veto-proof Dem super-majorities, with a similar imbalance in the majority of local governments.
And it is completely of our own doing, so let’s roll back to...
Early Sunday Morning
Before dawn on Sunday, before I returned my rental car — a spacious, brand new, all-wheel drive SUV — to Washington Dulles International Airport, I stopped by the gas station closest to the airport, where captive customers trying to catch a flight usually pay higher gas prices. That’s capitalism and just how life goes.
Care to guess how much I paid for gas at the supposedly inflated rates?
$2.959 per gallon for 88 octane.
At the airport.
Pardon my fuego, but what the fuck, California???
Oh…
Dulles is in Virginia.
According to Ballotpedia, “Virginia has a Republican triplex and a divided trifecta. The Republican Party controls the offices of governor, secretary of state, and attorney general. The Democratic Party controls the upper chamber, while the Republican Party controls the lower chamber of the state legislature.”
Here in California, according to a report last October from CBS-8 in San Diego, much of the cost of gas in California goes to local taxes:
For every gallon of gas in California, we pay:
54 cents in state excise tax: among the highest in the nation
18.4 cents in federal excise tax
23 cents for California's cap-and-trade program to lower greenhouse gas emissions
18 cents for the state's low-carbon fuel programs
2 cents for underground gas storage fees
An average of 3.7% in state and local sales taxes
That last bullet point, being a percentage, is a gravy train for vague local government slush funds. So when the price of gas here rises, the state and local sales tax revenue goes up. Our governments have an incentive for higher gas prices, thus have no incentive to improve refineries and continue to force-feed us costly “seasonal” gas blends.
Oh, but the environment, right?
Puh-lease.
Do you seriously believe that these taxes and fees help our environment and, even if you do, is it worth paying 53% more per gallon, as I did on Monday morning where my Costco gas (which is consistently the lowest price) cost $4.999 per gallon in LA for 87 octane that sold for $3.259 at Dulles?
The math goes like this: $4.999 - $3.259 = $1.74 difference for comparable octane gas. $1.74 / $3.259 = 53.39% costlier gas. And that’s not considering that it was costlier airport gas at Dulles and less expensive Costco gas in LA!
And do you know who this ripoff impacts the most in California?
Poor people, who feel this pain as a greater percentage of their income than those in more affluent homes.
And talk about a special blend of gas, how is slightly higher octane selling for the considerably lower price of $2.959 in Virginia? If there is a will, my fellow Californians, there’s a way.
But it starts at the ballot box.
Wanna Bet?
Waiting at Dulles for my flight back to LA, I downloaded one of the popular sports betting apps for a little action on the games that I watched during my flight.
But in California, the nanny-state politicians still haven’t figured out that online sports betting would be the financial solution to all of its budgetary, affordable housing and social justice wet dreams, as it would draw a piece of every dollar won by sportsbooks or at the point of payout by the winning bettors.
Sheesh, talk about a passive income stream!
Zak Thomas-Akoo of IGamingBusiness.com explained how a bitter, greedy battle between corporate sports betting interests and tribal casino outlets and their competing Prop 27 and Prop 26 initiatives, respectively, resulted in the defeat of both in 2022.
Where was the California legislature fighting for a win-win-win compromise???
Broadly available online sports betting would not only have raised a massive amount of California tax revenue given the size of the state and its tourism allure (not to mention sports teams and Super Bowl venues), it would also likely kill underground or offshore betting, from which it gets zero tax revenue, and would be safer and regulated.
Michigan has a Democratic trifecta and a Democratic triplex…and online sports betting.
When I had a one hour layover in Detroit, guess what? I opened the app and even Michigan, which has a Democratic trifecta and Democratic triplex, allowed my lawful bet tonight on the Chargers +1.5 parlayed with the Over 51.5 combined points when they play the Cowboys on Monday Night Football, for a +275 payout if both win, i.e. $2.75 for each dollar that I bet.
While the IRS gets a slice of the action regardless of outcome, California gets the state tax revenue only if my net betting activity is positive, but it goes to red Virginia and/or blue Michigan if I lose.
Geniuses! We elect geniuses here in California, don’t we?
Go Bolts!
(Post-script: the bet lost, the sportsbook won so advantage Michigan.)
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(Daniel Guss, MBA, is a multi-award-winning journalist. In June ‘23, he won the LA Press Club’s “Online Journalist of the Year” and “Best Activism Journalism” awards. He has been City Editor for the Mayor Sam network, and a featured contributor for CityWatchLA, KFI AM-640, iHeartMedia, 790-KABC, Cumulus Media, KCRW 89.9 FM, KRLA 870 AM, Huffington Post, Los Angeles Daily News, Los Angeles Magazine, Movieline Magazine, Emmy Magazine, Los Angeles Business Journal, Pasadena Star-News, Los Angeles Downtown News and the Los Angeles Times in its sports, opinion, entertainment and Sunday Magazine sections among other publishers.)