Senator Ted Gaines (Ret.), Member of the State Board of Equalization, comments on the latest gas tax increase, which will go into effect on Thursday, July 1. In 2017, Senator Gaines voted against Senate Bill 1, the Road Repair and Accountability Act, which raised the gas tax by 12 cents per gallon that year and allowed for another 5.6 cent increase in 2019 and 3.2 cent increase in 2020. Now, it’s going up another 0.6 cents to keep up with inflation, coming in at 51.1 cents total – the highest gas taxes in the nation.