Mass Gas tax draws protest
Mass. Gas tax draws protest
Gov. Deval Patrick looking to implement changes
Demonstrators react to the man on the scooter who honked in response to their signs during a protest in front of the State House in Boston on Wednesday. The protest, organized by the Massachusetts Republican Party, was held in opposition to a proposed 19-cent state gasoline tax increase.
By GLEN JOHNSON
Associated Press
February 26, 2009 6:00 AM
BOSTON — Boston drivers cruising past the Statehouse on Wednesday honked horns in opposition to a proposed 19-cent gasoline tax increase, as the governor tried to ease fears that the hike would run tandem with toll increases on the Massachusetts turnpike.
Gov. Deval Patrick told reporters a 4-cent gas tax increase would provide the state with enough money to avoid the toll hike altogether. But, he said, it would be in the best interest of the state to tackle a host of transportation issues at once.
Four cents, he said, “is wrong; it doesn’t get us anything.”
The gas hike doesn’t necessarily have to be the 19 cents he has proposed, Patrick said — only something sufficient to support the transportation bureaucratic reforms he is seeking.
He did not specify an alternative amount, but he has proposed a menu of changes that would require different levels of revenue.
“If I don’t get all that, if we don’t get all that, you know, then all we’re asking people to do is to pay more for the same old thing, and I will veto that bill,” the Democratic governor said. “The number alone is not enough; we have to have the series of reforms.”
House Speaker Robert DeLeo said he favored keeping Boston-area tolls at current levels and using an enhanced gas tax to achieve the other transportation changes. He will work with Senate President Therese Murray to move the gas tax hike bill through the Legislature in time to prevent the toll increases from taking effect, he said.
The first phase of the toll hike is set for March 29; the second, July 1.
DeLeo also said he expected a gas tax hike would exceed 4 cents but probably wouldn’t reach the full 19 cents Patrick wanted.
“We have to get our arms around all of those different concerns and try to come up with a package that everyone — or at least 81 people — can agree to,” he said, alluding to the majority vote in his 160-member chamber.
He added: “Bottom line, if we’re going to get it passed, we’re going to have to try to keep it, you know, as low as possible.”
An anti-gas tax protest organized by the state Republican Party drew about 25 people to the Statehouse steps on Wednesday morning. Passing motorists honked in response to signs urging them to show their disapproval of the gasoline tax.
Party chairwoman Jennifer Nassour said the state should not burden people already struggling with a national recession.
“It is important that we are not harming families of Massachusetts, people of Massachusetts, at these difficult times,” she said.
One protester, a state party intern, said a gas tax increase is too broad compared with a targeted toll increase.
“We will all have to pay the gas tax, as opposed to if tolls are increased,” said Amanda Witt, 22, of Duxbury. “A limited number of people will have to pay them, and they can be avoided.”
Patrick has proposed the increase as an alternative to doubling the turnpike tolls. Costs at the Boston Harbor tunnels, for example, would rise from $3.50 to $7 unless the state guarantees a revenue stream to avoid the increase.
Patrick said the 19-cent increase he has proposed would give the state the money it needs to solve the chronic debt problems at the turnpike, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority and other state transportation agencies.
