$500 ‘Walz Check’ will be wiped out by his plan to raise gas prices under a California fuel standard

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz took the opportunity to announce a slight increase in the size of the “Walz checks” families would receive under his plan at a gas station.

The photo-op was no doubt meant to convey that the Governor cares about the strain higher gas prices are putting on household budgets, but if Walz really cared about the pain Minnesota families are feeling at the pump, he would abandon his push to increase the cost of gasoline by enacting California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard.

According to an analysis from Stillwater Associates, a California fuel standard (CFS) in Minnesota would increase the cost of gasoline between 20 cents and 54 cents per gallon and diesel between 20 and 53 cents per gallon.

Governor Walz’s CFS would force the average Minnesota family to pay an additional $210 to $570 for gasoline every year, which entirely wipes out his proposed “Walz check.”

Instead of enacting permanent gas price increases, Walz should sign permanent tax cuts, which would save the equivalent of $4,000 for every taxpaying Minnesota family, every year.