Editorial: When it comes to high fuel prices, Washington tries harder

Back in 1962, Avis Car Rental tried to turn its position as the country’s second-largest rental agency into a positive by adopting as its slogan, “We try harder.”

A whole ad campaign was adopted carrying various taglines along the theme of “We’re Number 2, we try harder.”

We’ve often thought of those advertisements as we watched Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, his administration and the Democrat-controlled legislature working feverishly to best California in imposing crushing climate change regulation and legislation on its residents. …

Washington’s rise to the top in gas prices coincides with the Jan. 1 implementation of cap-and-trade, which imposes a fee on carbon emissions from fossil fuels. Oil companies will pay the fee but can pass it along to drivers. …

Cap-and-trade fees are set at quarterly auctions. Washington has held two auctions so far, raising $857 million for state spending. The carbon fee at the most recent auction was $56.01 per ton, compared to $30.33 in California.

Yay, team Inslee!

While they’re celebrating in certain quarters of Olympia, there are a lot of everyday Washingtonians who are picking up the tab for a policy that will raise billions for state coffers and do practically nothing to impact climate change. …

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