CLT UPDATE
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Another in an endless rollout of new taxes
Gov. Deval Patrick is considering
asking the Legislature to raise the Massachusetts gasoline tax by 27
cents per gallon as part of a comprehensive package aimed at solving
lingering state transportation problems, The Associated Press learned
today.
Such an increase would stave off a doubling of Massachusetts Turnpike
tolls planned for this spring, and finance a wholesale change in the way
state runs its transporation system, but leave it with the highest
gasoline tax in the nation at 50.5 cents. And the plan calls for
increasing that tax annually, based on the Consumer Price Index,
starting Jan. 1, 2011....
Trips would be measured by a chip installed in a vehicle inspection
sticker as soon as 2014, and in-state drivers would receive a gas-tax
refund for their mileage to avoid double payments. Out-of-staters would
remain subject to the higher gasoline tax....
The Registry would continue to regulate drivers and vehicle licensing
while developing the VMT — or Vehicle Miles Traveled — program.
Inspection fees would increase by $10 per year to fund "RMV
modernization," according to the draft.
Associated Press
Monday, February 9, 2009
Gov. mulls gas tax hike to highest-in-nation 50.5-cents
Governor Deval Patrick is considering raising the state's
gasoline tax by as much as 29 cents per gallon, which would at once give
Massachusetts the highest state gas tax in the country while generating enough
revenue to potentially rid the Massachusetts Turnpike of tolls....
The gas tax in Massachusetts is 23.5 cents per gallon, which has not been
substantially increased since 1991. A 29-cent increase would bring the state's
tax to 52.5 cents per gallon. New York currently has the nation's highest state
gas tax, at 41.3 cents per gallon....
Senate President Therese Murray, who has not seen any plans and said the
governor did not bring it up yesterday in a leadership meeting, also offered a
tepid response.
"We've been very clear: reform before revenue," Murray said in an interview.
"There hasn't been any reform. We filed a 268-page reform, and we expect it to
be looked at and enacted before we go to revenue." ...
Patrick is also considering a new system that would charge drivers based on the
miles they travel. Those trips would be measured by a chip installed in a
vehicle inspection sticker.
The Boston Globe
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Governor not certain on gas tax hike
Patrick's options range to 29 cents
Bay State businesses blasted an eye-popping 27-cent gas tax
hike proposal yesterday being considered by Gov. Deval Patrick, saying the
increase will send companies and customers fleeing across the state’s borders.
Critics also condemned the proposed boost - which would raise the tax to a
highest-in-the-nation 50.5 cents - as a double whammy for drivers inside Route
128 who would still face tolls on top of the hike.
“They’ll be paying this increased gas tax as well as tolls. It will only further
the inequity that already exists,” said Massachusetts Turnpike Authority board
member Mary Connaughton.
Paul O’Connell, executive director of the New England Service Station and
Automotive Repair Association, said raising the gas tax by 27 cents would cause
a “flight to New Hampshire” by motorists seeking lower prices.
The Boston Herald
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Gas tax hike fuels business ire
Deval Patrick considers 27-cent increase
Lawmakers and civil libertarians yesterday assailed an
Orwellian-style transponder chip Gov. Deval Patrick is considering for Bay State
inspection stickers - fearing the device could be hijacked and misused for
Big-Brother-type tracking.
The chip would be the centerpiece of a user-fee system to toll motorists per
mile driven, but the thought of employing such technology set off alarms that
the information collected could reflect everything from speed of the trip to
potential insurance fraud....
ACLU spokesman Chris Ott said lawyers at the civil liberties group still worry
about privacy implications.
“If this system somehow gives them the ability to map everywhere you’ve been in
your car, that’s very concerning,” Ott said.
And some residents said such information amounts to the government spying on its
own citizens.
The Boston Herald
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Foes spy security holes in tax plan
Car chip steers debate
In the words of President Obama, “this is not your ordinary,
run-of-the-mill recession.”
And let it be noted that our own Gov. Deval Patrick is responding not with
“ordinary, run-of-the-mill” ideas for generating revenue, but with ideas so
burdensome they will encourage people to leave the state if not entirely, then
at least long enough to fill up the gas tank.
Hinting that Massachusetts drivers might have to pay the highest gas tax in the
nation - at 50.5 cents, more than double what they are paying now - betrays an
appalling disconnect from the struggles of Bay State residents....
If this is a trial balloon, expect the administration’s actual transportation
“reform” proposal to be more modest for which we are supposed to be grateful.
At the end of the day even Obama understands that raising taxes during a
recession is a terrible idea. But whether it’s candy bars, Coca-Cola or gasoline
our governor disagrees.
A Boston Herald editorial
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Gas tax madness
He really wants a 15 cents per gallon increase. By asking for
27 cents and then lowering it to 15 cents, he is hoping that voters will not be
so angry. Furthermore, while taxpayers are fighting to lower the proposed gas
tax hike, no one is paying attention to the fact that toll booths are remaining
in place. Remember, toll critics wanted all the toll booths removed in exchange
for raising the gas tax.
Massachusetts taxpayers would be crazy to accept any increase in the gas tax
that does not include abolishing tolls statewide. Once Beacon Hill politicians
get the new gas tax revenue, they will be back with a smaller toll hike. They
are addicted to our money.
Do you think Governor Patrick’s re-election signs will read: Together We Can in
Taxachusetts?
I am starting to think that ‘hope’ and ‘change’ are the new code words for tax
and spend.
The Boston Herald
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
The Massachusetts gas tax bait and switch
By Holly Robichaud
A proposed 27-cent-a-gallon gas tax hike is a nonstarter with
some North Shore lawmakers.
"Obviously, I'm not in favor of it," said state Rep. Joyce Spiliotis, D-Peabody.
"The people I represent are barely making it now. They are hurting. ... We can't
tax our way out of this."
Local lawmakers were opposed to the gas tax hike designed to offset $7 tunnel
tolls and make changes to the way the state runs its roads, bridges, trains and
planes.
The Salem News
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Gas tax hike a no-go with lawmakers
Just when, and on what basis, did the Patrick administration
conclude that Massachusetts residents are eager to pay more in taxes? ...
Perhaps it was last November's vote against repeal of the income tax that
sparked this taxing frenzy.
Taxpayers no doubt feared the consequences of so drastic a step. But we don't
think the message was, "May I have some more, sir?"
Yet there's even talk in the report obtained by AP of tying the gas tax to the
Consumer Price Index so increases would become automatic. After all, it worked
for legislators who only a few years ago convinced voters to approve automatic
pay raises so they might be spared the pain of voting on them.
A Salem News editorial
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Taxing made easy
The governor and his advisers are plotting ways to reap more
tax revenue from taxpayers doing nothing more than driving their cars.
It's too bad Patrick isn't as thoughtful and creative in looking for ways to
reduce spending. Apparently, all the administration's brainpower is consumed in
dreaming up new ways to tax Bay State residents....
Massachusetts took years to shed the "Taxachusetts" label. Patrick and his
administration seem all too willing to apply it to the state once more.
An Eagle Tribune editorial
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Patrick wants to squeeze more out of drivers
Governor Deval Patrick was against raising the state's
gasoline tax before he was for it.
Now, he's for it. Probably. But, like Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, don't
push him on the details....
When it comes to a gas tax hike, the time for hedging is over. It is time to
lead.
The Boston Globe
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Patrick and the gas tax: Will he or won't he?
By Joan Vennochi
John A. Brennan Jr. won plaudits when he resigned after 19
years of service as a member of the Malden Public Library Board of Trustees, a
volunteer seat he held despite his busy career as one of Beacon Hill's most
influential lobbyists.
But a closer look at the record shows that Brennan, a 63-year-old former state
senator who departed the Legislature in 1990, barely attended monthly library
board meetings during the last four years, missing 30 out of 36 meetings.
His application for retirement benefits last December may explain why he hung
onto the post for so long. An obscure 1998 legislative amendment that originated
among Brennan's former Senate colleagues allowed him to fold the years he
volunteered on the Malden library board into his pension calculation, doubling
his taxpayer-supported pension.
Instead of receiving $19,097 a year in retirement based on 16 years as a
full-time legislator in the 1970s and 1980s, he will receive a $41,088 annual
pension for the combination of his legislative and library service, according to
estimates based on his retirement application....
Brennan's case is a prime example of pension practices on Beacon Hill in which
obscure amendments and bills that fly through the Legislature with little
attention are often worth thousands of dollars for certain retirees....
In his letter stepping down from the library board of trustees in November 2008,
Brennan cited "the increasing demands of work and other board memberships."
There might have been another explanation for the timing. By November, Brennan
had logged 34 years and 10 months of public service, according to the retirement
application. That was precisely the amount of time he needed to get the maximum
possible pension under state law.
It signaled the end of Brennan's public service.
The Boston Globe
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Increasingly light library board duty
doubled pension of former senator
Chip Ford's CLT
Commentary
Another week, another tax increase proposed by Gov.
Deval Patick. This is the guy who campaigned on property tax
relief. How much has that promise saved anyone yet? "Hope"
and "Change"? Yeah, we've seen a lot of that too since he's been
governor. He hopes to take more from us; the only change is what
will remain in our pockets if Deval gets all his tax hikes.
After three and a half
Republican governors, Taxachusetts is back shooting for Number One
again, this time with the highest gas tax in the nation. Goodness
gracious, we can't be outdone by any other state, especially after
missing the gold medal just last year. He and the
Legislature last July hiked the cigarette tax by a buck a pack to a
whopping $2.51, which
brought Taxachusetts almost to highest in the nation, behind only New
York's $2.75. How embarrassing, only Number Two; beaten out for
the honor by a mere 24 cents a pack. We can do better this time
with the gas tax hike! "Together we
can!"
The week before it was more sales taxes on alcohol,
soft drinks, candy, meals and whatnot, and of course increases in
Registry of Motor Vehicle fees, always a favorite as an easy mark
-- $587 million worth of new and increased taxes and fees that first
week of February.
Before that came his plan to hike tolls on the Mass.
Turnpike to 7 bucks.
And let's not forget his plan to invade New Hampshire
and grab all the tax scofflaws not paying sales tax up there, bring them
to justice. And his idea to add more tollbooths at the border
crossings.
This tax-crazed governor can't stop, he can't help
himself. He's begun to put even Michael Dukakis -- the last
tax-and-spend Democrat governor -- to shame. He wants badly to go
down in the annals as Taxachusetts' Numero Uno tax-and-spender, and is
well on his way to snatching the title from "The Duke."
It was only three months ago when the battle was over
whether or not the state income tax would be repealed on the November ballot.
The weak-kneed 70 percent who voted against it are certainly getting what they
voted for now: Even more and higher taxes. Unknowingly they
sent a message, and it was perceived loud and clear -- as we warned it
would be translated.
But Taxachusetts "needs the money," we're assured.
We're in a recession, the worst since the Great Depression. Except
that the Great Depression last century wasn't brought on by government overspending
like this one.
More of our money is demanded, required to run state
government's "fixed costs." After all, someone needs to keep benefits-bloated
public employees, formerly called "public servants," fat and happy, living in the style to which they've
become accustomed. Just ask former state Senator John A. Brennan
Jr., who recently managed to jack up his pension for life from $19,097 a
year to $41,088 by playing the Insiders' Game. John, you see, used a little
known (created especially just for him) loophole that let him count the
past 19 years as a library "volunteer" to fatten his taxpayer-funded kiss in
the mail.
Somebody's got to make up the cost for
Former Senator John's
creativity, and that of the thousands of other payroll patriots.
 |
|
Chip Ford |
|
P.S. My
last commentary
was published in the Salem News on Wednesday, February 11,
2009 as "Tax grab may come back to haunt Bay State"
Associated Press
Monday, February 9, 2009
Gov. mulls gas tax hike to highest-in-nation 50.5-cents
Gov. Deval Patrick is considering asking the Legislature to raise the
Massachusetts gasoline tax by 27 cents per gallon as part of a
comprehensive package aimed at solving lingering state transportation
problems, The Associated Press learned today.
Such an increase would stave off a doubling of Massachusetts Turnpike
tolls planned for this spring, and finance a wholesale change in the way
state runs its transporation system, but leave it with the highest
gasoline tax in the nation at 50.5 cents. And the plan calls for
increasing that tax annually, based on the Consumer Price Index,
starting Jan. 1, 2011.
A policy draft obtained Monday by the AP said the added taxes would be
dedicated to paying down the debt of the Massachusetts Bay
Transportation Authority, funding regional transit authorities and
revamping tolls on the Turnpike.
Tolls would be removed west of Route 128 by the end of next year. Tolls
within Route 128, from Weston to Boston, would come down as the state
shifts to a program of tracking — and charging — all Massachusetts
drivers based on the miles they travel.
Trips would be measured by a chip installed in a vehicle inspection
sticker as soon as 2014, and in-state drivers would receive a gas-tax
refund for their mileage to avoid double payments. Out-of-staters would
remain subject to the higher gasoline tax.
New York currently has the nation’s highest state gas tax, at 41.3 cents
per gallon.
"The Patrick administration recognizes that a greener, more
fuel-efficient transportation system means that the gas tax will become
a less viable (means) of funding our transportation system," said the
document prepared by Transportation Secretary James Aloisi. "A user-fee
based system, collected electronically, is a fair way to pay for our
transportation needs in the future."
The draft says the "average user will pay about an additional $120 per
year, less than the cost of two small Dunkin’ Donuts coffees per week."
Last month, Aloisi downplayed a new $6 annual Turnpike Fast Lane
transponder fee as less than the cost of his turkey sandwich that day.
An administration spokesman said the governor has made no final
decisions about his plan, which he has promised by the end of the month.
"We’re finalizing our transportation reform plan," said Joe Landolfi,
Patrick’s communications director. "It will be a comprehensive
initiative, but no final decisions have been made — especially on a gas
tax."
Patrick has repeatedly said that he opposes any broad-based tax increase
without accompanying policy reforms, yet the Turnpike Authority’s vote
in November to hike tolls effective this spring touched off a public
rebellion and a search for alternatives.
Under the Turnpike plan, tolls at the Boston Harbor tunnels would
increase from $3.50 to $7, while tolls for cars traveling inbound at the
Weston and Allston booths would rise from $1.25 to $2. Patrick has
already proposed eliminating western Massachusetts tolls.
The scale of the projected toll increases has created an environment
where legislators are openly debating the kind of massive transportation
overhaul favored by Patrick, as well as a gas tax increase as a more
equitable means of charging drivers for using public roads.
Rep. David Linsky, a Natick Democrat who represents MetroWest Turnpike
users, has filed a bill proposing an even greater gas tax increase than
the governor, 29 cents per gallon.
Meanwhile, Senate President Therese Murray and Sen. Steve Baddour,
co-chairman of the Joint Committee on Transportation, filed legislation
last week that embodies their own overhaul proposal, and the new House
speaker, Robert DeLeo, has said passing a bill will be one of his first
priorities.
The MBTA has $5.1 billion in debt, while the Turnpike has $2.3 billion
in debt, much of it from inherited repayments costs for the $15 billion
Central Artery project.
Under Patrick’s plan, the state would streamline its disparate
transportation agencies into four divisions: Highway, Rail and Transit,
Aviation and Port, and Registry of Motor Vehicles.
The state would also have a Massachusetts Transportation Trust Fund that
would be a protected repository for gasoline taxes, Registry fees,
tolls, MBTA fares and other transportation funding.
The plan calls for the state’s Highway Division to receive $325 million,
or 12.5 cents, of the added 27 cents-per-gallon gas tax. The MBTA would
receive $286 million, or 11 cents, while the regional transit
authorities would receive $39 million, or 1.5 cents.
The Highway Division would oversee all state-owned roads and bridges,
except for Department of Conservation and Recreation parkways and
bridges and the Tobin Bridge. It would continue to collect tolls at the
Boston Harbor tunnel crossings, as well as the state borders with New
York and Connecticut.
The Rail and Transit Division would encompass the MBTA and the regional
transit authorities, while the Aviation Division would assume the
functions of the Massachusetts Aeronautics Commission. The Massachusetts
Port Authority would remain an independent entity within the division,
overseeing Logan International Airport and Hanscom Field in Bedford.
The Registry would continue to regulate drivers and vehicle licensing
while developing the VMT — or Vehicle Miles Traveled — program.
Inspection fees would increase by $10 per year to fund "RMV
modernization," according to the draft.
The proposal also includes changes for Massport, including mandating a
$2 parking fee increase so the authority can contribute to mutually
beneficial transportation initiatives. The proposal would have the
transportation secretary become Massport’s board chairman, a potentially
controversial element after agency leadership was professionalized
following the terrorist hijackings at Logan on Sept. 11, 2001.
In perhaps one effort to build political support for the program,
Patrick is considering expanding a resident toll discount program from
Charlestown, South Boston, East Boston and the North End to include
Winthrop — DeLeo’s hometown.
Residents would be charged 50 cents more than a one-way MBTA fare to
encourage the use of public transportation, with their payment
increasing in step with future MBTA fare increases.
Some of those residents currently pay only 40 cents to use the tunnels,
since they are forced to use it to reach the remainder of the city.
The Boston Globe
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Governor not certain on gas tax hike
Patrick's options range to 29 cents
By Matt Viser
Governor Deval Patrick is considering raising the state's gasoline tax
by as much as 29 cents per gallon, which would at once give
Massachusetts the highest state gas tax in the country while generating
enough revenue to potentially rid the Massachusetts Turnpike of tolls.
But administration officials, responding yesterday to a leak reported in
the media, said the governor also was considering a gas tax increase as
low as 5 cents and that no decisions have been made.
The gas tax in Massachusetts is 23.5 cents per gallon, which has not
been substantially increased since 1991. A 29-cent increase would bring
the state's tax to 52.5 cents per gallon. New York currently has the
nation's highest state gas tax, at 41.3 cents per gallon.
Patrick last month released a budget that includes a host of tax and fee
increases, on everything from candy and soft drinks to alcohol and car
registrations. Conspicuously absent was a gas tax increase, which
transportation specialists and lawmakers have advocated as the fairest
way to solve the state's chronic shortages of highway and bridge money.
Administration sources refused to speak on the record yesterday or to
make any top officials available for interviews, including
Transportation Secretary James Aloisi. The Associated Press reported the
contents of a draft proposal that included a 27-cent per gallon
increase. Two administration officials later said that was only one of
many options for an increase that range from 5 cents to 29 cents.
The reports yesterday angered top lawmakers with transportation
expertise who have not been briefed by the administration but who have
been prodding the governor to take a leadership role on a gas tax for
months.
"I come from the school where the number one rule is no surprises," said
Representative Joseph Wagner, a Democrat from Chicopee who has been the
House's top transportation official. "These proposals are surprises.
It's not my preferred way of doing business.
"Perhaps it's time for the administration to forward to the Legislature
a proposal for reform," he added. "Then we won't see piecemeal things
going on with tolls and taxes without any substance of proposed
legislation."
Senate President Therese Murray, who has not seen any plans and said the
governor did not bring it up yesterday in a leadership meeting, also
offered a tepid response.
"We've been very clear: reform before revenue," Murray said in an
interview. "There hasn't been any reform. We filed a 268-page reform,
and we expect it to be looked at and enacted before we go to revenue."
In addition to removing tolls, the added gas tax could also be used to
pay down the debt of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.
How much debt is paid - and how many tolls are removed - would depend on
how much the gas tax is raised, according to administration officials.
Patrick is also considering a new system that would charge drivers based
on the miles they travel. Those trips would be measured by a chip
installed in a vehicle inspection sticker.
Patrick's plan would also streamline the state's myriad transportation
agencies into four distinct divisions: highway, rail and transit,
aviation, and the Registry of Motor Vehicles. He also plans to outline
overhauls to the MBTA's pension system.
Patrick has downplayed talk of a gas tax increase and sought to focus on
toll increases as a way to pay off debt. In recent weeks, he has said
that if there was a gas tax, it should be high enough to not only avoid
the latest round of toll increases but to remove toll booths completely,
or avoid sharp increases in the future.
The Turnpike Authority board gave preliminary approval to toll increases
in November that would double cash tolls to $7 at the Sumner and Ted
Williams tunnels and raise tolls at the Weston and Allston-Brighton
booths to $2 from $1.25.
Former House speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi in November endorsed a gas tax
increase instead of toll increases, but his successor, Speaker Robert A.
DeLeo, has been less definitive.
"Whether it's a toll issue, whether it's a gas tax issue - those all
have to be on the table," DeLeo said in a recent interview. "The days
[are over] of saying that no, we can't have tolls, we can't have gas
tax, we can't have either."
The Boston Herald
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Gas tax hike fuels business ire
Deval Patrick considers 27-cent increase
By Hillary Chabot and Jay Fitzgerald
Bay State businesses blasted an eye-popping 27-cent gas tax hike
proposal yesterday being considered by Gov. Deval Patrick, saying the
increase will send companies and customers fleeing across the state’s
borders.
Critics also condemned the proposed boost - which would raise the tax to
a highest-in-the-nation 50.5 cents - as a double whammy for drivers
inside Route 128 who would still face tolls on top of the hike.
“They’ll be paying this increased gas tax as well as tolls. It will only
further the inequity that already exists,” said Massachusetts Turnpike
Authority board member Mary Connaughton.
Paul O’Connell, executive director of the New England Service Station
and Automotive Repair Association, said raising the gas tax by 27 cents
would cause a “flight to New Hampshire” by motorists seeking lower
prices.
“A lot of our members operate near borders, and this could put them out
of business,” he warned. “My gut instinct is that this stinks.”
The tax hike would be levied instead of $7 tunnel tolls and other Pike
hikes to pay off Big Dig and MBTA debt. Tolls would be removed west of
Route 128 by the end of next year.
The state would work to implement a pay-per-mile system by 2014 to
eliminate tolls inside of Route 128. Officials would track auto use
through a chip inside the state’s vehicle inspection sticker. Drivers
could get a gas tax refund to avoid double billing.
O’Connell said the Patrick administration is making it harder for
businesses, with its call to slap new taxes on candy, soda and alcohol.
“How much can the business community take?“ he asked.
But Rick Lord, president of the influential Associated Industries of
Massachusetts, said that “broad-based financing” of the transportation
system is the “most equitable” way to go - and gas taxes are the most
“approriate” way to approach the problem.
Asked if an increase might hurt service stations near the borders with
other states, Lord said, “The reality is we have an older infrastructure
system” that needs finances and repairs.
State Rep. Steve Walsh (D-Lynn), who has called for a gas tax instead of
a proposed toll hike, called the measure a good first step.
Meanwhile, a State House source said the proposal caught many
legislators by surprise. Senate President Therese Murray rejected the
gas tax hike, but House Speaker Robert DeLeo issued a reserved statement
on the plan.
The Boston Herald
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Foes spy security holes in tax plan
Car chip steers debate
By Hillary Chabot
Lawmakers and civil libertarians yesterday assailed an Orwellian-style
transponder chip Gov. Deval Patrick is considering for Bay State
inspection stickers - fearing the device could be hijacked and misused
for Big-Brother-type tracking.
The chip would be the centerpiece of a user-fee system to toll motorists
per mile driven, but the thought of employing such technology set off
alarms that the information collected could reflect everything from
speed of the trip to potential insurance fraud.
“The problem with this chip is we don’t have the technology to protect
someone’s privacy,” said Sen. Steve Baddour, who has filed a
comprehensive transportation reform bill with Sen. President Therese
Murray.
Patrick said the technology is still in development, but added the chip
would work like the Fast Lane transponder. Drivers place the transponder
in their car and a tollbooth reads where and when the driver passed
through the toll and charges the motorist accordingly.
“I like any idea that’s faster and cheaper and simple, and gets maximum
value,” Patrick said about the plan, which is also under consideration
in Oregon. Transportation Secretary James Aloisi said any new technology
“would take into account all legal and privacy safeguards.”
But ACLU spokesman Chris Ott said lawyers at the civil liberties group
still worry about privacy implications.
“If this system somehow gives them the ability to map everywhere you’ve
been in your car, that’s very concerning,” Ott said.
And some residents said such information amounts to the government
spying on its own citizens.
“People could learn to manipulate the system,” said James MacGillivaray,
44 of Salem, a teacher in Boston. “I wonder how secure it would be. ”
Steve Silveira, who chaired the group charged with deciding how to pay
for the state’s infrastructure, said all cars could have transponders
implanted in them anyway.
The chip idea is part of a flood of transportation revenue proposals
under review, including a 29-cent gas-tax increase, and tolls at the New
Hampshire and Rhode Island borders.
Patrick said he changed his stance and is considering putting tolls at
the borders because of infrastructure needs and federal willingness.
“I have a clearer idea every day of how serious the challenge is before
us all,” Patrick said. “Our roads are not free.”
Eva Wolchover contributed to this report.
The Boston Herald
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
A Boston Herald editorial
Gas tax madness
In the words of President Obama, “this is not your ordinary,
run-of-the-mill recession.”
And let it be noted that our own Gov. Deval Patrick is responding not
with “ordinary, run-of-the-mill” ideas for generating revenue, but with
ideas so burdensome they will encourage people to leave the state if not
entirely, then at least long enough to fill up the gas tank.
Hinting that Massachusetts drivers might have to pay the highest gas tax
in the nation - at 50.5 cents, more than double what they are paying now
- betrays an appalling disconnect from the struggles of Bay State
residents.
You know, the folks who have to fuel up an old clunker to get to job
interviews, the car they keep patching up because they can’t afford a
replacement. The folks who have to hand over cash to Turnpike toll
takers who, under the plan that leaked this week, might still be sitting
in their booths planning a comfy retirement.
Yes, the plan authored by Transportation Secretary James Aloisi might
eliminate tolls west of Route 128, and that would mean killing some
Turnpike jobs. But not all of them.
And then there is this business about implanting a chip in our
inspection stickers, with the promise of refunding a portion of the new
gas tax to avoid hitting drivers with both the new tax and remaining
tolls. That “reform” might come in 2014. But don’t bet the minivan on
it.
With this gas tax talk the administration has ticked off legislative
leaders, who haven’t been briefed yet. And yesterday, incredibly,
Patrick also mused about the possibility of erecting tollbooths along
the borders that don’t currently have them.
“It’s not a particularly good time for people to be thinking about
additional costs in their lives, but there are choices we’re having to
make,” he told reporters. Spoken like someone who truly feels your pain.
If this is a trial balloon, expect the administration’s actual
transportation “reform” proposal to be more modest for which we are
supposed to be grateful.
At the end of the day even Obama understands that raising taxes during a
recession is a terrible idea. But whether it’s candy bars, Coca-Cola or
gasoline our governor disagrees.
The Boston Herald
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
The Massachusetts gas tax bait and switch
By Holly Robichaud / The Lone Republican
Governor Deval Patrick is now officially a Beacon Hill insider. His
gamesmanship on gas taxes vs. tolls has won him this distinction.
First, Governor Patrick and the Massachusetts Turnpike propose raising
tolls to an outrageous amount of $7. Commuters and metro west residents
scream over being saddled with the heavy burden. As a result people warm
to a small hike in the gas tax to spread the burden across the entire
state in an attempt to be fair.
Now Governor Patrick suggests raising the gas tax a whopping 27 cents
per gallon. He knew there would be massive opposition to increasing the
tax by 100%.
So why do it? He really wants a 15 cents per gallon increase. By asking
for 27 cents and then lowering it to 15 cents, he is hoping that voters
will not be so angry. Furthermore, while taxpayers are fighting to lower
the proposed gas tax hike, no one is paying attention to the fact that
toll booths are remaining in place. Remember, toll critics wanted all
the toll booths removed in exchange for raising the gas tax.
Massachusetts taxpayers would be crazy to accept any increase in the gas
tax that does not include abolishing tolls statewide. Once Beacon Hill
politicians get the new gas tax revenue, they will be back with a
smaller toll hike. They are addicted to our money.
Do you think Governor Patrick’s re-election signs will read: Together We
Can in Taxachusetts?
I am starting to think that ‘hope’ and ‘change’ are the new code words
for tax and spend.
The Salem News
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Gas tax hike a no-go with lawmakers
By Ethan Forman
A proposed 27-cent-a-gallon gas tax hike is a nonstarter with some North
Shore lawmakers.
"Obviously, I'm not in favor of it," said state Rep. Joyce Spiliotis,
D-Peabody. "The people I represent are barely making it now. They are
hurting. ... We can't tax our way out of this."
Local lawmakers were opposed to the gas tax hike designed to offset $7
tunnel tolls and make changes to the way the state runs its roads,
bridges, trains and planes.
Gov. Deval Patrick's proposal, which was contained in a policy draft
that The Associated Press obtained, would avoid steep toll increases and
pay down Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority debt. It would also
give the Bay State the highest gas tax in the nation at 50.5 cents a
gallon, given the 23.5-cent tax in place now.
Local state reps want lower tolls and a reform of the state
transportation system first, and if the gas tax is hiked, tolls should
take a hike, they said.
"We should reform first, gas tax second," said state Rep. Brad Hill,
R-Ipswich, who said he preferred to cut government waste before raising
money "to support that trough."
"We should go line item by line item and see where we should carve the
pork," Hill said.
Yesterday, Hill said he had received 30 e-mails from constituents on the
gas tax increase, with 28 opposed and two favoring it.
"I think that 27 cents seems excessive," said state Rep. Ted Speliotis,
D-Danvers. "I don't think people in this economic climate are screaming
for us to solve every transportation problem in the commonwealth."
People are facing more pressing needs, like losing their homes.
"I don't think you can look at the gas tax in a vacuum," said state Rep.
John Keenan, D-Salem, who has fought against toll hikes. Keenan favored
state government reforms championed by the state Senate.
"The Senate is correct. We need reforms instead of revenues," said
Keenan, who added that these reforms, such as combining some state
agencies, may not bring in the savings needed to pay off the massive
debts the state is saddled with.
"I can't believe it comes close to filling the gaps," Keenan said.
Keenan said the state needs "a sustainable source of revenue."
"If it were 27 cents and we had no tolls in the commonwealth, maybe,"
Keenan said.
A state transportation finance commission last year recommended an
11-cent gas tax increase, Keenan said, and his guess was any increase
would be more along those lines.
"I favor a comprehensive approach to transportation reform," said state
Rep. Lori Ehrlich, D-Marblehead. "If the gas tax is raised, I want the
burden eased by lowering the tolls on the North Shore."
She favored restructuring the Big Dig debt, consolidating state agencies
and "regional equity in toll collection if tolls are used at all."
Hill said the governor's proposal would bring down toll booths in the
western part of the state, but not on the North Shore.
Hill said the North Shore is hit by three T's: "tunnels, the Tobin, the
tax."
There were reports yesterday Patrick favored more local tolls coming
down if the gas tax were to increase. Patrick is also exploring charging
tolls to motorists crossing the state's borders.
A representative of Rhode Island-based AAA Southern New England said the
member-driven automobile association would consider a gas tax hike but
was not endorsing Patrick's.
"I think our position is we would certainly be open to taking a long,
hard look at a gas tax for a couple of reasons," said Mary Maguire,
AAA's director of public and legislative affairs. Gas taxes can be used
to fix crumbling bridges and roads, she said.
"We feel it would have to be used for transportation initiatives,"
Maguire said.
Calls were placed to state Rep. Mary Grant, D-Beverly, and Beth Mullen,
an aide to Senate Majority Leader Fred Berry, D-Peabody, but were not
returned.
Material from The Associated Press was used in this report.
The Salem News
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
A Salem News editorial
Taxing made easy
Just when, and on what basis, did the Patrick administration conclude
that Massachusetts residents are eager to pay more in taxes?
Fresh off his proposal to expand the taxing authority of cities and
towns to include a surcharge on meals and/or hotel rooms, The Associated
Press reports that the governor is also considering a doubling of the
gasoline tax.
Perhaps it was last November's vote against repeal of the income tax
that sparked this taxing frenzy.
Taxpayers no doubt feared the consequences of so drastic a step. But we
don't think the message was, "May I have some more, sir?"
Yet there's even talk in the report obtained by AP of tying the gas tax
to the Consumer Price Index so increases would become automatic. After
all, it worked for legislators who only a few years ago convinced voters
to approve automatic pay raises so they might be spared the pain of
voting on them.
The Eagle Tribune
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
An Eagle Tribune editorial
Patrick wants to squeeze more out of drivers
As Merrimack Valley residents contemplate the traffic choking nightmare
of tolls on Interstate 93, Gov. Deval Patrick is looking forward to the
day when every road can be a toll road.
The governor and his advisers are plotting ways to reap more tax revenue
from taxpayers doing nothing more than driving their cars.
It's too bad Patrick isn't as thoughtful and creative in looking for
ways to reduce spending. Apparently, all the administration's brainpower
is consumed in dreaming up new ways to tax Bay State residents.
First, there's the simple, low-tech method for extracting more money
from drivers. Patrick is considering a 27-cents-a-gallon hike in the
state's gas tax. That would make the gas tax in Massachusetts the
highest in the nation.
Gas in Massachusetts already comes with taxes of 41.9 cents per gallon —
18.4 cents of which is the federal gasoline tax. The increase would put
the total gas tax in Massachusetts at 68.9 cents per gallon.
If this increased tax were enacted today, the price of a gallon of
unleaded would instantly jump from $1.89 to $2.16.
Then there's the more high-tech way to tax drivers. According to The
Associated Press, the state is moving toward a system in which an
electronic chip would be placed in every Massachusetts car's inspection
sticker. The chip would allow the state to tax drivers based on the
number of miles they travel.
The chips could be in inspection stickers by 2014. Drivers would get
rebates on their state gas tax so they are not being doubly taxed for
the same miles driven. Out-of-state drivers would pay the full gas tax
when they fill up in Massachusetts.
Patrick is pitching the chips-on-cars plan as part of an "open-road
tolling" scheme. Think of open-road tolling as a kind of mandated E-ZPass
or Fast Lane system. Travel lanes would not need to pass through a toll
booth. All that is needed is an electronic checkpoint to read the
computer chips and deduct the toll from each driver's account.
Patrick again this week raised the possibility of adding tolls to I-93
near Salem, N.H., and on other border-crossing highways.
But don't think the governor's long-term vision is limited to these
major roads.
State Sen. Steven Baddour, D-Methuen, chairman of the Transportation
Committee, says open-road tolling is a gateway to something called the
"vehicle miles tax."
With the right technology, the chips on cars can be tracked by
satellite. Then the state can assess a tax on drivers for every mile
traveled. If that happens, we can all quit worrying about tolls on I-93.
Then, every road would be a toll road.
It also opens up the possibility of limitless state control over how and
when we drive. State policymakers could slap us with penalties for
taking the Hummer instead of the Prius to the market. They could tax us
more for driving into the city at rush hour. There is really no limit.
Patrick's spokesman has said the governor has made no final decision on
his transportation proposals, which are expected by the end of the
month. Patrick has said that reforms must accompany any revenue
increases.
Baddour said the Senate is focused on reform and a gas tax hike isn't
going anywhere right now. Baddour also said he doesn't think the people
of Massachusetts are ready to have the state tracking their every move.
He's right there. Open-road tolling sounds reasonable enough - until one
considers where it could lead. And a 27-cents-a-gallon gas tax is out of
the question, regardless of what reforms ultimately are made.
Massachusetts took years to shed the "Taxachusetts" label. Patrick and
his administration seem all too willing to apply it to the state once
more.
The Boston Globe
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Patrick and the gas tax: Will he or won't he?
By Joan Vennochi
Governor Deval Patrick was against raising the state's gasoline tax
before he was for it.
Now, he's for it. Probably. But, like Treasury Secretary Timothy
Geithner, don't push him on the details.
Patrick's latest riff on the subject came after the Associated Press
reported the contents of a draft proposal calling for a
27-cent-per-gallon increase. That turned out to be one of several tax
increase options under consideration, ranging from 5 cents to 29 cents.
Patrick called a press conference to announce that the information was
leaked and made public "before we intended it to be." He still hasn't
"landed in any particular place," but he does view such a hike as a
"bridge to tomorrow."
The governor backed up over that bridge before inching forward,
according to a timeline compiled by the State House News Service.
During a Columbus Day parade in October 2006, Patrick, then a
gubernatorial candidate, was asked whether he would rule out a gas tax
and toll increases if he won election. "Yes, I do," he said.
Then, as governor-elect, he told an interviewer in December 2006 that he
wanted to review a transportation committee report calling for an
increase of 9 cents "before I express a point of view."
In January 2007, the new governor said, "It's not on my radar screen
right now."
And so the equivocating continued.
At one point, he suggested casino revenues as an alternative. Then, he
said he never opposed a gas tax hike, he just wanted taxpayers to know
"it is not my first choice." In a radio appearance on WTKK in April
2008, he argued against the notion that a higher state gas tax is
inevitable and called it a "crummy time" for such a step.
But last November, he told reporters, "I'm not hostile to a gas tax."
Last month, he suggested via a Boston.com chat that he might be willing
to raise the gas tax, under certain conditions, as an alternative to
boosting tolls. When reporters followed up, he insisted his position was
unchanged. "I'm in the same place I have always been about the gas tax.
I'm not hostile to it."
The state transportation system has come close to bankruptcy because of
lingering debt related to the Big Dig. In December, then House Speaker
Salvatore F. DiMasi got behind a gas tax hike as the way to solve the
crisis.
His successor, House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo, is less definitive - as
Patrick has been. The Patrick administration has launched various
trial-balloon solutions, from selling Massachusetts Turnpike plazas to
raising existing tolls and adding new ones at state borders. Now,
Patrick must pick his path to solvency.
As a candidate, Patrick didn't want to wear the tax-and-spend label of a
traditional Democrat. As governor, he doesn't want to be another Michael
Dukakis, rejecting taxes on the campaign trail, only to raise them once
in office after facing fiscal crisis. Dukakis lost a Democratic
reelection primary after breaking his "lead-pipe guarantee" that he
wouldn't raise taxes. Dukakis staged a comeback that triumphed in flush
fiscal times, but bottomed out with the crash of the Massachusetts
Miracle.
Republican John Volpe campaigned for governor in 1964 on the sales tax
and defeated Lieutenant Governor Frank Bellotti, a Democrat, who opposed
it. Volpe sent his sales tax bill to the Legislature seven times before
it passed, with key backing from the business community. He was
reelected in 1966.
But, Massachusetts taxpayers are angrier than they were back in the
1960s. Over the decades, high-profile political scandals undercut their
trust in government. For the past year, Beacon Hill has been operating
under the cloud of assorted ethics investigations and outrageous cases
of pension abuse. And the crisis in confidence comes at a time of
deepening economic crisis. Patrick has proposed new taxes on alcohol and
soft drinks, combined with deep cuts in local aid, education, and
healthcare. Even so, his budget relies on Congress and President Obama
to rescue Massachusetts with $1.2 billion in federal aid from an
economic stimulus package.
When it comes to a gas tax hike, the time for hedging is over. It is
time to lead.
The Boston Globe
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Increasingly light library board duty
doubled pension of former senator
By Sean P. Murphy
John A. Brennan Jr. won plaudits when he resigned after 19 years of
service as a member of the Malden Public Library Board of Trustees, a
volunteer seat he held despite his busy career as one of Beacon Hill's
most influential lobbyists.
But a closer look at the record shows that Brennan, a 63-year-old former
state senator who departed the Legislature in 1990, barely attended
monthly library board meetings during the last four years, missing 30
out of 36 meetings.
His application for retirement benefits last December may explain why he
hung onto the post for so long. An obscure 1998 legislative amendment
that originated among Brennan's former Senate colleagues allowed him to
fold the years he volunteered on the Malden library board into his
pension calculation, doubling his taxpayer-supported pension.
Instead of receiving $19,097 a year in retirement based on 16 years as a
full-time legislator in the 1970s and 1980s, he will receive a $41,088
annual pension for the combination of his legislative and library
service, according to estimates based on his retirement application.
If Brennan collects his pension for 18 years, as actuarial tables
predict he will, his pension receipts will total about $740,000. The
cost of almost all of that pension, according to state law, must be
split proportionately between the state and Malden, a city often
strapped for cash, including a $1.5 million cut in state aid for the
current year. Brennan himself has contributed about $70,000 toward his
pension, mostly through a payroll deduction during his years in
Legislature.
Brennan declined to comment. "I am not inclined to discuss my private
matters with you," he said.
He is scheduled to begin drawing his pension at the end of this month,
state officials said.
Brennan's case is a prime example of pension practices on Beacon Hill in
which obscure amendments and bills that fly through the Legislature with
little attention are often worth thousands of dollars for certain
retirees.
Lawmakers frequently submit bills to pad the pensions of individual
municipal or state workers, and occasionally these measures pass. For
example, the Legislature has passed special bills in recent years giving
dozens of police officers and firefighters increases in their disability
pensions, with no formal medical scrutiny required.
When the amendment that Brennan capitalized upon was passed in 1998, it
baffled the few who noticed it, not least because library trustees
typically spend only a couple of hours a month helping to set library
policy and budgets at board meetings.
"I was a bit perplexed when library trustees were singled out, because
there are dozens of other public servants in a municipality who do not
get this benefit," said Michael Sacco, a lawyer who represents dozens of
municipal retirement boards statewide.
The law's enactment was a surprise even to the group that represents the
state's library trustees.
"We only found out about it after it passed," said Robert C. Maier,
director of the Board of Library Commissioners, the state agency that
advises local libraries. "We didn't propose it, and we didn't work on it
in any way."
Maier said he didn't know what possible rationale the Legislature had in
mind for including library trustees in the state pension law. Library
board members rarely, if ever, get any financial gain from the job, he
said.
"All the library trustees I know and have dealt with over the years
freely give their time to serve their communities, without expectations
of pay or pensions," he said.
In theory, the law made all of the state's 2,500 volunteer library
trustees eligible. But the law limits the pension benefit to trustees in
municipalities where local officials have voted to adopt it. And only
Malden has put it to use. The law is also limited to trustees with
public sector service before or after their terms on the library board,
which, coincidentally or not, applies to Brennan.
Moreover, Brennan is the only library trustee in the state to have
benefited from the law in 10 years, according to a survey of officials
in the handful of municipalities that inadvertently adopted the library
trustees measure as part of a legislative change in cost-of-living
increases for municipal retirees.
After the measure passed, it meant that for every year that Brennan
remained on the board after 1998, he would add an estimated $1,220 to
his eventual annual pension. It also credited him with an instant boost
of $9,775 in his annual pension for the eight years he had served on the
board through 1998.
Brennan stunned the Beacon Hill political world in 1990 by announcing he
was leaving the Senate. At the time, he was Senate whip, the
third-ranking position, and considered a favorite to succeed his mentor,
Senate President William M. Bulger.
Brennan now heads The Brennan Group, a lobbying firm that says on its
website that it has the "knowledge and know-how to influence important
constituencies and generate positive regulatory results." The firm has
an enviable list of clients, including Boston University, Boston
Properties, Fidelity Investments, Ameriquest Mortgage Co., and the city
of Boston, according to the firm's website.
Brennan declined to answer when asked in a brief interview whether he
played a behind-the-scenes role in getting the law passed.
But Malden Library Board meeting minutes showed that he raised the idea
of pension benefits for trustees in 1998. Later that year, Brennan
volunteered at a board meeting to write a letter seeking the support of
the Malden City Council, according to meeting minutes, copies of which
were obtained by the Globe under the state public records law.
There is no evidence in meeting minutes that the nine-member Malden
board ever followed up on Brennan's offer.
The Legislature passed the library trustee provision later that year,
but public records provide few clues to who was involved. The 141-word
measure was a last-minute amendment to a bill relating to cost-of-living
increases for certain pensions. Legislators passed the amendment by
voice vote in the final days of the legislative session. It was never
publicly discussed.
Senator Stanley C. Rosenberg, Democrat of Amherst, is listed in official
documents as bringing the amendment to the floor. But Rosenberg said in
an interview that he did not author the amendment and does not know who
did. The amendment originated in the Ways and Means Committee, and he
merely fulfilled his duties as committee chairman by forwarding it to
the full Senate.
"If I had made the amendment, I would remember it, and I have no memory
of it," said Rosenberg. It could have come from any member of the
committee or from the Senate leadership, he said.
"There is just no way of knowing," he said.
At Malden City Hall, Mayor Richard C. Howard recommended the City
Council pass what he described in official documents as "Provisions of
Chapter 456 of 1998," with no details on the law's ramifications. The
council passed it on May 18, 1999, without discussion, and Howard signed
it, records show.
The council's action was unusual because it came without the matter
having gone to a committee for study and without Howard's administration
having presented an analysis of its potential cost, said Joan Chiasson,
the former council president who was absent for that meeting and who
recently reviewed city records on the matter.
Howard, in an interview, said that Brennan was a close friend and former
law partner. Brennan grew up in Malden and was first elected to the
House of Representatives as a law student at Suffolk University.
"I'm sure he probably called me and said, 'Hey, Richard, this thing is
coming and would you mind signing in?' " Howard said. "And I signed it."
In his letter stepping down from the library board of trustees in
November 2008, Brennan cited "the increasing demands of work and other
board memberships."
There might have been another explanation for the timing. By November,
Brennan had logged 34 years and 10 months of public service, according
to the retirement application. That was precisely the amount of time he
needed to get the maximum possible pension under state law.
It signaled the end of Brennan's public service.
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