Fun fact: I recently vacationed in Hawaii and couldn’t help but notice, despite groceries costing about 2x, gas there is a dollar cheaper than at home in California. California just can’t get enough tax money.
When you include all taxes (eg property tax), there's surprisingly little variation between states: For example, TX is 6th-lowest at 8.6% of income, while CA is 46th-lowest at 13.5% of income. Hawaii is 48th-lowest at 14.1%
The refining regulations are so great that they have succeeded in forcing nearly every refinery here to close now, so I guess gas prices can just go asymptotic, since California only allows this special unicorn gas, and I doubt any of these oil companies are going to open a new refinery in Arizona to make this special formulation, when they're closing the refineries here that used to make it. Maybe Sacramento can buy the closed refineries and restart them at great taxpayer expense and create our version of state-owned oil companies, except instead of printing money they'll be printing debt.
https://www.gasbuddy.com/gasprices/hawaii/kahului
Safeway 4.89 / Costco 4.75
https://www.gasbuddy.com/gasprices/california/daly-city
7-Eleven 5.79 / Costco 5.39 / Chevron: 6.15
5.49 - 6.29 in Mission Viejo.