Welch: The gas taxes nobody voted for

On July 1, the price at every gas pump in Snohomish County ticked up by a fraction of a cent, and not one member of the Legislature had to put a name on it. That was the whole point.

Washington’s state gas tax rose about 2 percent that morning, climbing to 56.5 cents a gallon. …

It got there on autopilot. Last year the Legislature passed House Bill 2711, and the governor signed it. The law indexes the state gas tax to rise automatically every July 1, roughly 2 percent a year, from now on. No vote. No debate. No public hearing. No roll call. … The tax now raises itself.

Here is the part that should really get your attention. The 2 percent escalator is the smaller of two automatic gas taxes you are already paying. The bigger one does not even call itself a tax.

It is the Climate Commitment Act. Passed in 2021, it set up what the state calls cap and invest. Fuel suppliers have to buy carbon allowances to cover the emissions from the gas they sell, and they buy those allowances at auctions the Department of Ecology runs every quarter. … Whatever the suppliers pay, they pass down to you at the pump. The Western States Petroleum Association and the Washington Policy Center estimate the program now adds roughly 40 cents to a gallon of gas and about 50 cents to diesel. …

Notice what is missing from that process. A vote. The pump price of the Climate Commitment Act is set at auction, by the market, four times a year. No legislator ever stands up and votes for this year’s number, because there is no number to vote on until the bidding closes. …

The program is also engineered to climb. The auction has a price floor that rises automatically every year, about 5 percent plus inflation, sitting at $27.92 per allowance in 2026 according to Ecology and the International Carbon Action Partnership. That is the floor, the least it can cost. At the same time, the state shrinks the supply of allowances each year to hit its emissions targets, down about 7 percent to 49 million metric tons in 2026, and tighter every year after. …