California drivers already pay the highest gas tax in America.
Then Xavier Becerra told a Sacramento reporter a tax on every mile they drive should be on the table.
Steve Hilton answered him on Fox News in a costume nobody on set saw coming, and it carried a price tag.
Hilton Wore Becerra's Face and a Mileage Tax Bill On Live TV
Hilton appeared on Fox News' The Big Weekend Show on October 31 wearing a mask of Becerra's face.
Around his neck hung a sign pegging Becerra's mileage tax at $1,043.82.
Staying in character, Hilton warned viewers the tax would climb with every mile they drove.
Then he pulled off the mask and went back to being the candidate who wants to cut their bills.
He also wore the Becerra mask to a Trunk-or-Treat in the Highland Park neighborhood of Los Angeles.
He posted that Becerra's policies "should FRIGHTEN you," pointing to $8 gas, sky-high registration fees, and a $1,000 mileage tax.
His campaign followed up with an AI-generated video urging voters to stop Becerra's mileage tax.
The next day, he kept swinging: "Xavier Becerra wants to tax us for every mile we drive in California."
Hilton wasn't the only Republican playing dress-up – Tennessee Rep. Tim Burchett's son went as his dad.
By Halloween, nearly five million Californians had already cast their ballots.
Becerra waited until the final week of the race to float a per-mile charge.
Becerra Told KCRA Everything Should Be On the Table
The costume was a response to an interview Becerra gave KCRA 3 in the final stretch before the November 3 election.
Asked whether he would consider charging Californians by the mile, the former Biden HHS Secretary said, "Everything should be on the table."
He told the station that roads don't get fixed with a magic wand and somebody has to pay for them.
He argued that electric vehicle drivers who never buy gas should help cover road repairs.
In the same breath, he made clear Californians should keep paying the gas tax too.
His campaign later insisted he has not proposed a mileage tax.
Nobody heard him rule one out.
Hilton blasted the idea as out-of-touch arrogance from a party that never stops squeezing drivers.
Then he made a promise: "As governor, I will veto the mileage tax."
His plan goes the other direction – $3 gas, no state gasoline tax, and a $73 cap on annual vehicle registration.
California Already Tested a Mileage Tax On More Than 5,000 Cars
Becerra didn't dream this up on the campaign trail.
In 2014, Gov. Jerry Brown signed SB 1077, ordering the state to design and test a road charge.
By 2017, Caltrans had run a nine-month pilot that logged more than 37 million miles on over 5,000 vehicles.
Every one of those drivers was a volunteer.
A mileage tax wouldn't ask permission.
The pitch was simple: as more Californians switch to electric, gas tax money shrinks.
Sacramento's answer was never to cut spending – it was to find a new way to bill everybody.
Republican Assemblyman Carl DeMaio estimates a mileage tax would run six to nine cents a mile.
At 15,000 miles a year, that's $900 to $1,350 coming out of a family's pocket.
A contractor or sales rep logging 25,000 miles a year would be looking at $1,500 to $2,250.
And California isn't the only place pushing it.
Oregon is turning its volunteer mileage pilot into a mandatory per-mile charge on electric vehicles starting July 1, 2027, and Joe Biden's 2021 infrastructure law created a national pilot for a per-mile road fee.
Becerra's Mileage Tax Would Make California Drivers Pay Twice
Becerra looked at California's gas receipts and decided the problem was that some people weren't paying enough.
Every family that bought an electric car because Sacramento pushed them to would get a new bill for doing it.
Every family still burning gasoline would get one too.
A mileage tax doesn't replace the gas tax for the guy driving a 2012 pickup to a job site in Fresno.
It stacks right on top of it.
And charging by the mile means the state has to know exactly how far you drove.
What Sacramento tests on California drivers has a way of showing up in Washington next.
Becerra's team wanted to talk about road funding formulas.
Hilton understood that a commuter in Bakersfield doesn't need a white paper to understand a per-mile tax.
He needs to see the bill.
So Hilton hung it around his neck on national television.
Sources:
- Bob Hoge, "Spooky Scary: Steve Hilton Dresses Up As Becerra While Rep. Burchett's Son Dresses As… His Dad," RedState, October 31, 2026.
- Fox News, "Steve Hilton's Halloween Costume Looks Suspiciously Like His Opponent," Fox News, October 31, 2026.
- LifeZette, "Hilton Turns Halloween Costume Into Brutal Hit on Becerra's Tax Talk," LifeZette, November 1, 2026.
- Josh Koehn, "Steve Hilton Rips Xavier Becerra's Proposed Mileage Tax: 'They Never Stop Gouging You'," New York Post, October 29, 2026.
- FOX 11 Los Angeles, "Debate Over Mileage Tax Surfaces in California Governor's Race," FOX 11 Los Angeles, October 29, 2026.
- California Department of Transportation, "2017 Road Charge Pilot," California Department of Transportation, 2017.
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