SAN DIEGO – The Times of San Diego reports that supporters of an initiative to repeal California’s recent gas tax increase and vehicle registration fee have begun collecting signatures.

This week, former San Diego City Councilman Carl DeMaio and Republican gubernatorial candidate John Cox appeared at an event outside the studios of KOGO-AM (600), notes the news source.

“Sacramento politicians really crossed the line with these massive car and gas tax hikes and we intend to give taxpayers the chance to reverse that decision with this initiative,” said DeMaio, chairman of Reform California, a political action committee that is working to qualify an initiative for the November 2018 ballot that would roll back the gas tax and vehicle registration fee.

According to Reform California’s website, backers of the initiative need to collect 585,407 signatures of California voters to force the measure on the November 2018 ballot.

“Once we qualify this initiative for the ballot, 2018 will be remembered as the year we had another taxpayer revolt in California, where the outrageous car and gas taxes were reversed by voters and the politicians that enacted those tax hikes are punished at the ballot box,” DeMaio says.

On November 1, California’s gas tax took effect. Per CIOMA, the excise tax rate for gasoline increased from $0.297 to $0.417 per gallon (an increase of $0.12 per gallon), the excise tax rate for diesel fuel increased from $0.16 to $0.36 per gallon (an increase of $0.20 per gallon), and the additional statewide sales and use tax rate imposed on retail sales of diesel fuel increased from 1.75% to 5.75% (an increase of 4.00%).