State Gas Tax Increased!
While we're struggling to roll back the 11-year old
"temporary" income tax rate and reclaim our tax over-payment, the price of gas keeps climbing and the state gas tax just rose
to 22 cents per gallon. This increase will take an additional $2.3 million a month from drivers across the state.
A bill to lock the trigger on automatic gas tax increases
languishes in the Legislature.
Though deep-sixed into a "study committee" months ago, it
was recently tacked on as an amendment to the state budget. But by the time the budget gets passed (although the fiscal year
ends on June 30th, last year the budget was stalled until November), the gas tax issue could well be moot.
You can bet the farm that if this was a legislative pay
raise, it would become law virtually overnight (like the last one did) and, of course, it would be retroactive!
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Chip Ford |
The Boston Herald
Wednesday, June 28, 2000
Mass. motorists getting hit with hidden tax at gas pump
by Cosmo Macero Jr.
Bay State motorists are getting socked with a hidden tax at
the gas pump, even though Gov. Paul Cellucci filed legislation months ago to freeze the state's gas tax at 21 cents.
The average price per gallon burst through a key $1.68
threshold earlier this week, triggering an additional one-cent tax that will cost drivers $2.3 million a month.
Cellucci's bill, which was nearly killed by House lawmakers
after he filed it in March, is now tied to the state's fiscal 2001 budget as an amendment.
And with House and Senate lawmakers still deadlocked in a
budget conference committee, motorists could be shelling out more at the pump for weeks or even months to come.
"Until the budget gets passed, people are going to be paying
more for their gas than they should have to," said Cellucci press secretary John Birtwell. "Presumably, we could be gouging
people for a couple of extra million this summer."
The gas tax rose from 21 cents to 22 cents a gallon when the
average price per gallon reached $1.68. As of Sunday, the average price was $1.69.
Rising gas prices are draining motorists' wallets just as
the busy summer vacation season is beginning. In April, the U.S. Department of Energy projected that gas prices would
decline before June.
That statistical misfire has further aggravated the motoring
public.
Cellucci's bill proposed freezing the tax at 21 cents -- and
eliminating other hidden triggers that would otherwise hike the tax by as much as three cents per gallon.
But state Rep. John H. Rogers (D-Norwood), House chairman of
the Joint Taxation Committee, banished the measure to a study committee earlier this year.
The gas tax freeze was enlivened only after Rep. Ronald
Gauch (R-Shrewsbury) attached it as an amendment to the budget.
Still, Rogers yesterday began circulating a "sample press
release" to his colleagues aimed at "relaying to constituents the steps we took ... to help them at the gas pump."
"It would be an outrage to hit taxpayers with an added tax
at the same time that they are already paying record amounts for fuel," Rogers says in the draft press release.
Republican lawmakers blasted Rogers -- who could not be
reached for comment -- saying it's absurd for him to take credit for the tax-freeze proposal.
"When Democrats stand for tax cuts they're responsible, when
Republicans stand for tax cuts, we're reckless," said Gauch. "It's easy to stand for tax cuts after they've been enacted."
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
House of Representatives
State House, Boston MA
Ronald W. Gauch
Representative
Assistant Minority Leader
11th Worcester District Shrewsbury - Westborough
Contact: Victor Pap III - (617) 722-2100
Opinion Statement
June 27, 2000
Gauch to Rogers: Great Idea, Where Did You Get It?
House Republicans question Taxation Chair's 'enlightenment'
Boston -- While Assistant Minority Leader Ron Gauch and fellow
House Republicans agree it "is critical that we take the time to send the message now" about gas prices, the Shrewsbury
Republican was taken aback by Taxation Chair John Rogers' recent announcement championing the legislation.
"When Democrats stand for tax cuts they're responsible, when
Republicans stand for the same tax cuts, we're reckless," said Gauch. "It's easy to stand for tax cuts after they've been
enacted but apparently for the Democrats it's a lot harder to give credit where it's due."
House Republicans giggled upon reading the statement issued
from the office of the Norwood Democrat when Governor Cellucci had filed legislation, which Rogers buried in a study while
Republicans fought for the tax cut during the House budget debates. Without the Republican amendment, the gas tax trigger
would remain in place even now.
"Politicians often tout legislative accomplishments in which
they have no part," said Minority Leader Fran Marini, R-Hanson. "The majority party could have reported the bill out of
committee for debate, but chose to place the bill in study ... luckily for them, Republicans wouldn't want to take credit for
their ideas."
-end-
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
House of Representatives
State House, Boston MA
JOHN H. ROGERS
Representative
12th Norfolk District
Chairman - Taxation Committee
253 Railroad Avenue
Norwood, MA 02062
Room 236. State House
Boston, MA 02133-1054
Tel. (617) 722-2430
27 June 2000
Dear Colleague:
Please find herewith a sample press release that I hope you
will find helpful in relaying to your constituents the steps we took earlier this year to help them at the gas pump.
It perhaps is critical that we take the time to send the
message now since a potential gas tax hike under the current law may be in store as gas prices continue to escalate.
I commend you for the leadership, prudence and foresight you
demonstrated by embracing this gas tax freeze this past April, especially when the U.S. Department of Energy at that time was
saying that gas prices would begin to decline before June. Of course, this forecast, as our constituents can tell you, was
inaccurate.
Please let me know if I can be of further assistance to you.
Sincerely
JOHN H. ROGERS
House Chairman
enclosure [follows]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 28, 2000
CONTACT: _________
REP. FIGHTS GAS TAX HIKE AMID PRICE CRUNCH
Representative _________ announced today that the state
budget corrects a decade old law that would have automatically raised the state's 21 cent per gallon gasoline tax at the peak
of the summer travel season.
Record and still rising gas prices have raised fears that a
tax hike will be triggered under an obscure 1990 law that sets the gas tax rate at 19.1 percent of the wholesale price of
gasoline or 21 cents a gallon, whichever is higher. The tax has been at 21 cents per gallon for a
decade, but the average retail gas price is currently $1.64 per gallon and could inch
higher. If it reaches $1.68 per gallon, the gas tax will increase by a penny, costing drivers an extra $2.3
million per month. If the average price per gallon at the pump exceeds $1.80, as is possible
by summer's end, the state gas tax would have jumped up to 24 cents without the law change,
costing drivers an extra $7 million per month.
"It would be an outrage to hit taxpayers with an added tax
at the same time that they are already paying record amounts for fuel," said Rep. John H. Rogers, House Chairman of the
Taxation Committee. "Thanks to the efforts of Rep. ________ and other friends of the
taxpayer, those who pay at the pump won't have to pay another red cent in taxes," he said.
Earlier this year, the US Department of Energy predicted the
current gas price crisis to abate this spring, but a skeptical Massachusetts House unanimously endorsed a measure to stave
off potential tax hikes by freezing the tax at 21 cents per gallon during its budget debate in
April. Following the lead of the House, the Senate adopted an identical budget rider in early
June.
According to Rep. _________, since both chambers agree, the
tax freeze will automatically make the governor's desk. Governor Paul Cellucci is expected to sign the measure when it
reaches his desk.
NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this
material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior
interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes
only. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml