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Honestly, that's actually a good thing that it goes up every July. The problem with many states, and this isn't just gas taxes but all taxes, is that they don't index taxes to inflation, and then the governments are forced into drastic budget cuts and big jumps in taxes. I work with local governments in PA and time after time I see this play out. They pat themselves on the back for keeping property taxes low and not raising them for 6 years and then boom, they find themselves in a deficit which local towns are not allowed to run in PA. Then there's a big tax hike and everyone gets pissed. I'm working with one town where the population of the town is very affluent, but the town is going broke because of the tax structure. They rely on property taxes, but the county hasn't reassessed property values in 30 years. So you have parcels that are worth 6-7 figures being assessed for tax purposes at like 100k. And now everyone is stuck because if the properties get reassessed, the property taxes jump a few hundred percent. Having the gas tax go up a little bit every year is the smarter way to do it.

This is supposed to be in line with inflation, which is understandable, to an extent. I believe this may be the smallest year over year increase since 2017. i think this year is just a 3c increase. And, in all fairness, I've noticed a ton more road construction since 2017. Yes, it's inconvenient, but there were a lot of bad roads. Now, there are a lot less and there's still plenty of construction in the area. In fact, it's currently taking me about 15 minutes longer to get home for the next couple weeks due to "emergency bridge construction". It sucks, but I understand it and also appreciate the nicer roads.

The good old days...

Hence my secondary thought of buying an older four wheel drive full size truck. Our second vehicle sees few miles. Our 2004 Aveo has 84 K on it. I am buying so much less. I don't want to support the current system, enough said.

Welcome to Making America Great Again with Same Old Tariffs, just higher prices! Sadly, we are now worse off with the worst leadership ever and my gut tells me that I would not be surprised to see $40K the new Entry level of what used to be $24K. I noticed that before the current tariff stupidity, the 12 pack of Korean Seaweed at Costco was $6.99, now $11.99. I noticed today that the Maguire auto care kit that was $19.99 is now $39.99. So much for bringing prices down. Washington state now has the highest gas in the nation as the average cost per gallon here hit $5 today.

Unfortunately, none of the low-cost crossovers will be particularly good with that. The Maverick Tremor might do okay with it's locking diff, but at a base price of $43k, I have a hard time calling it "low-cost".

I keep feeling like America ought to have a hand on the hot stove moment, but methinks the whole arm will burn off and we won't learn a damn thing. What the world is becoming here in America, content warning, offensive. Its going to be MUCH higher than that. Much.

We have lost ten percent since January 20th, more to follow. Like I said in the other Thread, Maverick or Crosstrek. I just want something to get me to the next trail or camp site. This comment times one billion, I would upvote this to oblivion if I could.