(The Center Square) – Washington drivers are paying nearly a dollar more per gallon of gas than they were a month ago.
The Iran war is sending prices surging across the country, but Washington drivers are paying far more in state taxes for gasoline, mostly because of the Climate Commitment Act.
The statewide average for a gallon of regular reached $5.14 on Thursday, second only to California, which has an average of $5.61 a gallon according to AAA. The national average on Thursday is $3.88.
Washington drivers were paying $.90 a gallon less one month ago.
The Center Square talked with drivers emptying their wallets to fill their tanks at gas stations in Federal Way, Wash., Thursday morning.
“It’s a struggle because my, fiancé only has a set income where he doesn’t work anymore because he had to have double lung surgery,” said Jodi Bonner of Federal Way. “Then he just got out of knee surgery. I don’t work yet. So, we’re just kind of living off what he makes, which is really hard.”
She said at this point in life she didn’t think she’d be in such a tough financial situation.
“It makes me angry, you know? I mean, we’re seriously struggling. Like, we only have so much money, and we shouldn’t have to spend it all just to get around,” she said. “I don’t drive my car that often, because I can’t afford the gas prices.”
Eric Reitan told The Center Square he’s retired and has more discretionary income than many people but was not pleased to be paying $5.79 a gallon for supreme fuel.
“This car is tuned to have to take premium, so that’s an extra 30-cents a gallon and I mean it adds up with all the different vehicles that my wife and I drive around,” Reitan said.
He noted they take a lot of road trips, but costs for everything going up may cut into those plans.
“Road trips are kind of our thing now, and we do a lot of those vacations. We’re doing okay,” he said acknowledging others who are less fortunate are really feeling the pain at the pump.
Truck drivers are really feeling the pain with diesel averaging $6.21 a gallon, up $1.41 from just one month ago. It was $4.39 one year ago.
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, nationwide gas prices will likely remain relatively high through 2026, dropping by about 16-cents per gallon in 2027.
Washington prices are today $1.26 higher than the national average.
