CALIFORNIAN motorists spent a weekend in shock after the state’s governor Jerry Brown recently signed a law to increase fuel taxes to fund a $US5.2 billion ($A7 billion) per year plan to repair roads and bridges.

It is the first time in three decades that the state has increased fuel taxes. It now plans to introduce the increases – up $US0.12 a gallon ($A0.16 a gallon) for petrol and $US0.20 a gallon ($A0.27 a gallon) for diesel – from November 1.

The governor has stated that the total proceeds of the new taxes will be mandated so they go to fixing California’s roads and bridges and has allocated $US52 billion ($A70 billion) over a 10-year period.

Damage to the road system is said to be so bad that 500 bridges need urgent attention and the total annual cost to the state’s motorists has been put at $US18.3 billion ($A24.45 billion) – or about $US1200 ($A1600) per registered vehicle – in extra vehicle operating costs.

These costs, according to US non-profit transportation group TRIP, include accelerated vehicle depreciation, additional repair costs, and increased fuel consumption and tyre wear.

In seeking further funds, the Californian governor has also increased annual registration fees for all cars from $US25 to $US175 ($A33.40 to $A234) and as a slap in the face for Tesla owners, a new $US100 ($A133.60) annual registration fee for all electric vehicles from 2020.

Petrol in California is now about $US3 ($A4) a gallon (equivalent to $A1.06 a litre) and next year will cost the equivalent of $A1.10 a litre. But the rate will be gradually increased until 2019 when petrol will cost about $A1.20 a litre. Outrageous, said the critics.

So now for a little relativity. California now pays the equivalent of $A0.20 a litre in petrol taxes. Australia pays $A0.40 a litre, the UK pays $A1 a litre and New Zealand pays $A0.88 a litre. California – you have little to complain about.

California is the second most expensive state in the US, after Hawaii, for fuel. The US average for petrol is about $US2.50 ($A3.35 a gallon or $A0.88 a litre). Australia’s average is $A1.30 a litre.

Supporters of the new taxes say the benefits will be repairing a backlog of deferred maintenance projects and creating potentially thousands of new jobs. Projects in the US operate on a loose formula that states for every $US1 billion ($A1.34 billion) of investment, it creates 13,000 jobs.

The bill, which will go into effect in November after being signed on the weekend, cleared the state legislature three weeks ago. The Democrats, who have proposed the bill, have a two-thirds majority in both houses that allows them to pass new taxes with little or no Republican support.

Republicans condemned the increases, saying the state’s transportation taxes and fees are already among the highest in the nation. They call the measure the largest gasoline tax in California’s history.

By Neil Dowling