CA gas tax jumps 10 cents in Jan.

New year. New tax on gas.

It’s AB 32, the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 finally gouging drivers at the pump.

Although industry spokesmen have said the new gas tax could be as much as 70 cents a gallon, it looks like it could be around an FDR dime.

According to the Mercury-News:

A UC-Berkeley energy and economics expert says it’ll be more like nine or ten cents per gallon, which supporters say isn’t so high a price to pay for the environmental good it will do.

Some Democrats want to delay the program; most Republicans want to stop it entirely. But at present, there is little prospect of either happening, given the Brown administration’s strong support of the program, which is enshrined in an eight-year-old law.

“A lot of Californians still don’t know this is coming,” said state Sen. Andy Vidak, R-Hanford, who has a bill to exempt transportation fuels from the cap-and-trade requirements. “It’s going to hurt the poorest people in the state … Gasoline is not a luxury, it’s essential for folks.”

Some Democrats oppose the tax increase because it especially will gouge poor constituents who commute long distances.

Fortunately for those who favor the tax, it’s being imposed at a time of declining oil and gas prices. The atmosphere would be far different if we still were paying $4 or more per gallon.

Of course, it’s possible gas could rise in price again, to $4 a gallon or even higher.

Meanwhile, the politicians who imposed AB 32 and this gas-tax increase way back in 2006 have gone far from the scene. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger still champions laws and regulations against global warming.

But his real opinion is shown in his tooling around town in a $2.5 million Bugatti Veyron supercar that guzzles gas at 8 mpg in the city.

Meanwhile, the latest numbers show there has been no global warming for 18 years.