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Washington state is collecting billions of dollars at the gas pump through a program they did not call a tax. It sure feels like one to me. They called it the Climate Commitment Act. A cap-and-invest program. A market mechanism. Since 2023 it has collected $3.5 billion from Washington families and businesses by requiring fuel suppliers to buy carbon permits and pass the cost directly to you. Somewhere between 20 and 51 cents per gallon depending on what allowances cost that quarter. In November 2025, the state published its official report on results. It claimed the program had reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 9 million metric tons, equivalent to taking 40% of all Washington vehicles off the road for a year. On January 6, 2026, the state corrected that report. The actual number was 78,000 metric tons. The original claim was off by 9,600%. NINE THOUSAND PERCENT... $3.5 billion collected. Less than 0.1% of annual Washington emissions actually reduced. And nobody called it a tax. If you want to better understand why it is getting so painful to live in WA, this is a great example... And the average tax payer has no clue.