SPOKANE, Wash. — You’re paying some of the highest gas prices in the country if you’re filling up in Washington, where drivers are spending $4.33 per gallon, according to AAA.
While some relief may be coming, analysts say Washington will continue to have higher-than-average fuel costs due to state policies.
While pipeline issues in the west were blamed for the recent spike in prices, gas stations can now begin purchasing cheaper winter fuel mix which should lower costs at the pump the coming weeks. Some stations have already seen prices drop 10 cents since Monday.
State taxes play a major role in Washington’s elevated gas prices. On July 1, drivers began paying 55 cents per gallon for the state’s gas tax, which ranks as the third-highest gas tax in the country, according to the Tax Foundation.
The Climate Commitment Act adds another layer of costs that may be passed on to consumers. Todd Myers from the Washington Policy Center explained how the fees work.
“The CO2 tax from the Climate Commitment Act is no different than the sales tax on the gas tax or anything else where the consumers pay it. And then, the companies send it to the state. It’s the exact same thing,” Myers said.
Determining exactly how much of the Carbon Commitment Act fee gas suppliers pay to the state gets passed on to consumers remains difficult. The Washington Policy Center estimates that if all of the fee was passed down to drivers, it would cost 51 cents per gallon.
Combined with the gas tax, that amounts to more than $1 per gallon in taxes and fees.
We reached out to the Department of Ecology to see if it knew how much more a gallon of gas costs due to state policies.
In a statement from the DOE, a spokesperson wrote “The truth is that we don’t have visibility into how much gas companies may be passing on at any given time to consumers. In a competitive marketplace like gasoline, companies can only raise prices so much before they lose market share, so competition is a limiting factor.”
They added, the best way to estimate any added costs is to look at the gap between Oregon and Washington, because we share a supply chain but Oregon doesn’t have cap-and-invest. Saying:
This is because Oregon gets nearly all of its fuel from the five Washington refineries, but it has different gas tax rates and policies.The current difference in retail fuel prices between Washington and Oregon is 37.8 cents. Of that difference, 15.4 cents is attributable to the difference in gas taxes between the two states – Washington’s current rate is 55.4 cents, whereas Oregon’s rate is 40 cents. That leaves 22.4 cents that may be attributable to Washington’s policies or other factors.
Despite ongoing refinery issues affecting prices regionally, analysts at the WPC say Washington’s tax structure ensures the state will maintain higher-than-average gas prices regardless of market conditions.
Correction: A previous version of this story said the Department of Ecology estimated gas prices would increase by 4 cents per gallon based on an estimate we viewed on a DOE FAQ page, but officials say that was incorrect. The above version includes the DOE response. We also reported that we did not hear back from the DOE about the WPC’s claims, but later found our crew missed a voicemail from the department. We regret the errors.
COPYRIGHT 2025 BY KXLY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED.