OLYMPIA, Wash. — In the last days of the 2025 legislative session, Washington State lawmakers are scrambling to pass a gas tax that would even out the state’s budget deficit.
It would also have an impact on your wallet.
The next meeting to determine the fate of how much it costs to fill up your gas tank is on Tuesday. If the bill passes, we will feel those impacts by summer.
The Washington State Senate is proposing a 6-cent per gallon tax increase.
It will also add $50 to electric vehicle registrations, create a luxury tax on high-end vehicles, and furlough state workers for 13 days, all to raise $3 billion to cover a transportation budget shortfall.
Drivers say prices are already too high as it is.
“People can’t afford to eat and pay for gas, but they have to pay for gas to go to work, you know,” one Tacoma driver said.
Some lawmakers say that without the funds, road projects will never get done.
“It would mean a pause in final phases of Snoqualmie Pass. It would also mean not starting the Highway 18 project,” Senator Marko Liias (D), Senate Transportation Chair said.
Not everyone agrees with the tax. Many lawmakers say they want a different solution.
The bill must pass by April 27th, and if it does, the tax will hit the pumps in July.
“I feel like that’s would just eat up all my money and I really don’t want that to happen I want gas prices to stay low,” another driver said.
The house also proposed a bill this session for a 9-cent tax, but it stalled weeks ago.
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