Why is Washington's gas tax increasing? When does the gas tax go up?
On July 1, 2025, the state's gas tax will increase by 6 cents per gallon, from 49.4 cents to 55.4 cents per gallon, the Washington State Standard reported.
Starting on July 1, 2026, the gas tax will increase annually by 2%.
It's the first gas tax increase since 2016, according to the Washington State Department of Revenue.
The gas tax increase is part of a $3.2 billion transportation revenue package that Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson signed on May 20, the Washington State Standard reported.
The gas tax will help fund a $15 billion transportation budget – also signed by Ferguson – that pays for things like public transit, road maintenance, and other infrastructure projects, the Seattle Times reported.
Ferguson said at a news conference that "no one's excited" about raising the gas tax, but the state Legislature came together in a bipartisan fashion to address "serious challenges" with the transportation budget and declining revenue.
"Our gas tax revenue is not what it was," Ferguson said, according to a YouTube video shared by KING 5 Seattle. "We have some structural challenges there that are well known to all of you."
The state has been struggling with declining gas tax revenue as electric and more fuel-efficient vehicles have become more popular, KING 5 Seattle reported.
The most popular car in Washington is the Tesla Model Y, according to Edmunds and a 2024 report from Car and Driver.
Washington has one of the highest state excise taxes for gasoline in the country, according to a May 2025 report from ComplyIQ, a tax software company.
California has the highest excise gas tax rate on gasoline at 59.6 cents per gallon, according to the report. Pennsylvania is second at 57.6 cents per gallon. Washington follows at 49.4 cents per gallon.
Alaska has the lowest gas tax rate at 8.9 cents per gallon, according to the report.
In addition to excise taxes, fuel prices are affected by state-specific sales taxes and fees, a 2024 Tax Foundation report said. The organization said it calculated these taxes and fees to find out the gas tax rates of each state. Washington still ranked near the top of the list at 52.82 cents per gallon, the fourth-highest rate in the U.S.
This article originally appeared on Kitsap Sun: When is Washington's gas tax increasing? Why is the gas tax going up?
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Post
6 hours ago
- New York Post
Netanyahu's son claims Joe Rogan refused to have father on his show: ‘Years of antisemitic propaganda'
Benjamin Netanyahu's eldest son on Friday claimed Joe Rogan refused to host the Israeli prime minister on his show and has promoted 'years of antisemitic propaganda.' Yair Netanyahu, 33, took aim at the popular podcaster after Rogan gushed over scandal-ridden Hunter Biden, arguing he could be president. 'Great wake up call for conservatives to remember Joe Rogan is not a conservative,' Netanyahu's son wrote in a post on X. Advertisement 4 Joe Rogan hosting his podcast 'The Joe Rogan Experience.' PowerfulJRE/Youtube 'He gave platform to every single neo Nazi antisemite on this plant (sic), but he refuse to have my father on his show, because he knows that he doesn't stand a chance against him, and all those years of antisemitic propaganda will go to waste.' Representatives for Rogan did not immediately respond to The Post's requests for comment. Advertisement On Wednesday's episode of 'The Joe Rogan Experience' podcast, Rogan had played a clip from Biden's bizarre interview with 'Channel 5' host Andrew Callaghan, when the former president's son discussed his illegal drug use. 'He's smarter than his dad when his dad was young,' Rogan said of Hunter. 'And he could be president. How about that?' 4 Yair Netanyahu slammed Joe Rogan in a social media post Friday. @YairNetanyahu/X Advertisement Yair Netanyahu, a onetime podcaster himself, was quick to call out Rogan's comments as proof that he isn't a true conservative and accused the host of platforming antisemitism. Rogan has found himself in hot water on the subject several times over the years. Most recently, Rogan faced backlash after he hosted Darryl Cooper on his podcast earlier this year. 4 Yair Netanyahu and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. AP Advertisement The self-styled historian has been accused of Holocaust revisionism and downplaying Nazi crimes. Rogan brushed off his critics as 'paranoid' Jews. In 2023, Rogan made a jab on his podcast about Jews being 'into money.' 'The idea that Jewish people are not into money, that's ridiculous. That's like saying Italians aren't into pizza. It's f—ing stupid,' he said. 4 President Trump and Yair Netanyahu. @YairNetanyahu/X Yair Netanyahu, who is known for coming to his father's defense online, has his own fair share of controversies. His Facebook account was slapped with a 24-hour ban in 2018 following a series of anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian posts. 'Do you know where there are no attacks, in Iceland and Japan. That's because there are no Muslims,' he wrote in one post. Advertisement In another, he wrote: 'There will never be peace with the monsters in human form known since 1964 as 'Palestinians.'' Earlier that same year, the prime minster's son, then 26, was caught on video outside a Tel Aviv strip club drunkenly boasting about his father and making risqué comments about women.
Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Yahoo
3 stats from Google's Q2 show how it is weathering advertising turmoil
This story was originally published on Marketing Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Marketing Dive newsletter. Digital advertising is sitting at a point of uncertainty as tariffs roil the economy and artificial intelligence (AI) disrupts the ecosystem. Those threats didn't ding Google's performance in Q2 2025. Search and other, the company's largest segment, increased revenue nearly 12% year over year to $54.2 billion while YouTube notched a 13% YoY gain to $9.8 billion. Overall Q2 ad revenue came in at $71.3 billion, up 10.4% over the year-ago period, according to an earnings report from parent Alphabet. Search experienced growth 'across all verticals,' CFO Anat Ashkenazi said on a call discussing the results with analysts, led by the retail and financial services industries. Google also continued to see consumer traction for its efforts to inject more generative AI features into the search experience. By the numbers $54.2B Q2 ad revenue for Google's key search and other segment, which saw growth "across all verticals." AI Overviews have yet to dent monetization 2M The number of advertisers using Google's generative AI tools to run ads. That base is up 50% over the same period last year 40B Hours of YouTube sports content now watched annually. Google is making live sports a bigger priority for the video platform AI Overviews, text boxes that streamline answers to queries using generative AI, are drawing over 2 billion monthly active users (MAUs). A separate AI Mode for delving into longer-form, complex searches has over 100 million MAUs in the U.S. and India, where it is currently available. 'We see monetization at approximately the same rate, which gives us actually a really strong base on which we can then innovate and drive actually more innovative and new and next-generation ad formats,' said Chief Business Officer Philipp Schindler when asked by an analyst about the impact of AI Overviews on search advertising. Google has worked to put more AI tools in the hands of advertisers as well, including an AI Max for search suite of solutions that launched in May. Executives claim the features typically drive 14% more conversions for brands. Beyond campaign optimization, more companies are adopting Google's generative AI products for advertising creative. The number of advertisers using Google's AI-powered asset generation tools is up 50% over last year to 2 million, according to Schindler. 'Google's AI-powered products for advertisers, including AI Max for Search campaigns, Smart Bidding Exploration, Demand Gen, and Asset Studio are performing as expected, though they force advertisers to cede control and transparency in exchange for performance,' said Forrester Senior Analyst Nikhil Lai in emailed comments. 'Nonetheless, they'll continue being adopted by agencies and brands seeking more yield from crunched budgets.' YouTube was also cited as a point of strength in Q2 as the video platform becomes a more serious player in TV and as its TikTok lookalike, called Shorts, advances its approach to monetization and generates over 200 billion daily views. Shorts in the U.S. are now earning as much ad revenue per hour watched as traditional in-stream video on YouTube, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said. Executives referenced Nielsen data that show YouTube has become the top player in streaming, momentum that Google is trying to extend into areas like live sports. YouTube will broadcast its first exclusive NFL game in September following season kick-off (its connected TV service, YouTube TV, also carries NFL Sunday Ticket). Consumers watch over 40 billion hours of sports content via YouTube annually, per Pichai. Many questions still hang over Google's business, which is contending with an antitrust crackdown, rising competition from AI rivals like ChatGPT and the potential for more concrete impacts from the trade war, should it dent advertiser appetites. Google is also heading into a period where it will lap a deluge of political ad spending from 2024, which could lead to unfavorable comparables. 'I think it's really too early to comment on anything [happening] in the second half of the year,' said Schindler. Recommended Reading Google's ad business remains robust despite macro, regulatory threats Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Yahoo
Pudgy Penguins CEO Luca Netz on the NFT resurgence everyone is missing
Pudgy Penguins CEO Luca Netz on the NFT resurgence everyone is missing originally appeared on TheStreet. It might be early, and it might be hard to believe, but excitement around NFTs is starting to return. Just don't make the mistake of thinking this time around will look anything like last time, says Pudgy Penguins CEO Luca Netz. "The floodgates are open, and you're going to really see the best of what crypto entrepreneurs are going to bring within these next couple of years," Netz recently told Coinage, highlighting a new creative shift happening in crypto now that the industry is no longer as on high alert as it was under the reign of former SEC Chair Gary Gensler. "I think it is game-on for the next two to three years, and I think you're going to see the best that crypto has to offer here shortly." For Pudgy Penguins, one of the leading NFT projects, Netz says the goal has been to establish their lovable penguins as the new characters of the internet and to potentially rival Disney's Mickey Mouse. To do so, the project has leaned heavily on measuring and promoting its virality, including tracking how many people use their GIFs, how often people view thier YouTube shorts, and eventually looking for ways to unlock that attention. "I think at the end of the day, an NFT project's goal is to proliferate the IP, right? Like, if your mission as an NFT project is to not proliferate the IP, I would argue that you shouldn't be an NFT project," Netz explained. And if there was one thing Pudgy Penguins did extremely well last cycle, it was selling people on the idea of getting the brand out there and monetizing the attention better than others. Their plush toys made it into Walmart, and then the project rolled out their PENGU token on Solana, unleashing a wave of other NFT projects attempting the same thing, each doing so to less and less fanfare. Pudgy's token slipped from around $0.03 in its December debut to a low of $0.003 this April. But since then, the token has rallied more than 500%. Some of that is tied to new entrants to the ecosystem, and some of it seems to be the project doubling down on buying its own token and committing to disinflationary elements that began with burning $150 million in unclaimed tokens after the launch. The trend set the playbook that plenty of other memecoin projects, including Coinage's own PLYBTN memecoin, soon followed with. "We're doing more buys and burns," Netz said. "We're projected to do $40 to $50 million in revenue this year. I want to take a huge portion of that and buy our token, and if we can just keep doing that over the course of years, it's not if Pudgy Penguins and PENGU will be bigger than Doge and some of the incumbents, it's when." Actions like that may have attracted the attention of the SEC under the prior administration, but now Netz says that like Coinage, he's also educating policy makers in Washington about the positives community ownership and NFTs may be able to unlock for holders. During the summer, Netz estimated he'd been in and out of Washington D.C. six times to discuss updates with decision makers in government. That eventually culminated in a Canary Capital ETF filing to establish a fund that would hold Pudgy Penguins NFTs and PENGU tokens — the first of its kind. But as much as the NFT game has evolved, Netz credits the success of Pudgy Penguins to its simplicity. As much as other projects might want to over complicate things, he's tried to keep things simple: Build a loveable brand, and get people to want to share it. "The beauty about Pudgy Penguins and PENGU is how easily digestible it is to the regular person," he said. As momentum around Ethereum and Solana continue to mount, Pudgy Penguins straddling both ecosystems with an NFT and memecoin sets them up well no matter who leads who in the cycle. As the project leads NFTs again in the recent uptick, Netz sees a strong 2025 ahead. "I think we will go further than we've been in the past in terms of our NFT ecosystem," he said, declining to share partnership specifics at this time. "I'm going to keep that one close to the chest. But if you thought Walmart was big, I think I got something bigger." Pudgy Penguins CEO Luca Netz on the NFT resurgence everyone is missing first appeared on TheStreet on Jul 25, 2025 This story was originally reported by TheStreet on Jul 25, 2025, where it first appeared. Sign in to access your portfolio
