CLT News Release
Wednesday, January 24, 2018
No more burdens on motorists – cut the waste!
NO to H.1828, S.1987
On October 24, 2017 CLT appeared and testified before the Joint
Committee on Transportation against S.1959, “An Act establishing the
Metropolitan Transportation Network.” Just three months later to the
day — like “Groundhog Day” without Bill Murray — here we go all over
again.
As with most “revenue
enhancement” schemes on Beacon Hill, this one follows the usual
trajectory of being proposed over and over and over until taxpayers and
motorists find themselves further weighted down by the higher costs of
wasteful, expanding state government spending imposed upon them — as if
their burden isn’t heavy enough already.
The reincarnation of S.1959 arises as S.1987 accompanied by H.1828.
S.1987 is the resurrection of former-Sen. Tom McGee’s “Metropolitan
Transportation Network” scheme complete with more and higher tolls on
more roadways.
H.1828 proposes to establish “a vehicle mileage user fee task force
. . . and other related matters.” Establishing another task force
sounds innocent enough, but why spend time and money if it isn’t toward
a preordained conclusion to impose higher taxes or fees? How would the
state determine how many miles each of us drives every day without
somehow monitoring, tracking us; “Every
breath you take, every move you make, I’ll be watching you”?
As long as it’s “Groundhog Day” on Beacon Hill, Citizens for Limited
Taxation will simply respond as we did to then-Sen. McGee’s bill before
his Transportation Committee, just three months ago to the day. All
that has changed over the past ninety days is that in December the state
collected over half a billion dollars in revenue more than was
anticipated.
Nothing has changed with our position either, so
we’ll regurgitate too:
In 2013 the Legislature increased the gas tax by three cents per
gallon. In 2016 that tax alone cost motorists $766 million.
Motorists also pay the 6.25% sales tax on the purchase of a motor
vehicle, an annual excise on ownership, perpetually increasing fees for
driver's licenses, vehicle registration, vehicle inspections, etc., and
tolls already imposed, among other costs.
Citizens for Limited Taxation opposes any cost increases targeting
motorists that only fund an embarrassingly bloated transportation
system, already the third most expensive in the nation.
As always in Massachusetts, the state does not have a revenue
problem — it has a spending problem. When it comes to
transportation infrastructure, Massachusetts has an astounding
spending problem.
According to a comprehensive report issued last September [2016] by
the Reason Foundation ("22nd
Annual Highway Report"), this state spends 320 percent more
than the national average for every mile of state road
infrastructure built or maintained. That puts this state at the 48th
most expensive — spending more per state-controlled mile than only
Florida and New Jersey.
|
Capital and Bridges Disbursements per State-Controlled Mile |
|
Massachusetts |
$290,854 |
|
New Hampshire |
$79,385 |
|
National Average |
$84,494 |
|
Maintenance Disbursements per State-Controlled Mile |
|
Massachusetts |
$78,313 |
|
New Hampshire |
$19,906 |
|
National Average |
$25,996 |
|
Administrative Disbursements per State-Controlled Mile |
|
Massachusetts |
$74,924 |
|
New Hampshire |
$23,607 |
|
National Average |
$10,051 |
|
Total Disbursements (including bond principal and interest,
etc.) per State-Controlled Mile |
|
Massachusetts |
$675,939 |
|
New Hampshire |
$186,194 |
|
National Average |
$160,997 |
|
Source: Reason Foundation Policy Study No. 448, September
2016, "22nd Annual Highway Report — The Performance of State
Highway Systems" http://reason.org/files/22nd_annual_highway_report.pdf |
Chip Ford, executive director of Citizens for Limited Taxation,
notes: “Massachusetts desperately needs to get its exorbitant cost of
highway construction and maintenance under control. Throwing more and
more taxpayer money at a failing and bloated transportation system is
not a solution – it’s only digging the hole deeper.”
#
# #
Note: We checked with the Reason Foundation yesterday and the above
data are its most current. An update of the foundation’s annual report
has been delayed by the unavailability of more current federal
statistics for comparison until recently, we were advised, but the
foundation expects to release a new report within the next month or two.
Citizens for Limited Taxation ▪ PO
Box 1147 ▪ Marblehead, MA 01945
▪ 508-915-3665
