Last month, Gov. Deval Patrick took a bold political step by proposing a 19-cent increase in Massachusetts’ gasoline tax as part of a comprehensive transportation plan. A plan that is much needed and long overdue.
Our system of building and maintaining roads, rails, tunnels, airports and ports needs to be streamlined; the debts incurred by the Big Dig and the MBTA need to be repaid; and a transparent and accountable financing mechanism needs to be put in place to pay for those ongoing transportation expenditures necessary to insure safety and maintain competitiveness.
Over the past 20 years, past administrations have chosen to deal with these critical issues by deferring maintenance and relying on Wall Street to provide financing that shifted a significant portion of the economic burden into the future.
Now the bills for both maintenance and borrowings are coming due at a most inopportune time. A time when many Massachusetts families are experiencing a similar financial squeeze and when their job security, savings and home values are diminishing by the week. Why has this governor chosen to add to their burden by proposing a significant increase in gas taxes and exposing himself to considerable political backlash?
He could have proposed only the cost cutting reforms and waited for the legislature to act or react. He could have shifted the financing problem onto the treasurer or hid behind the numerous boards and commissions that oversee a good portion of the states transportation budget. Instead he took both of these issues head on after absorbing and surviving the heat generated after the Turnpike Authority proposed much more dramatic toll increases.
All In
Perhaps, after studying all of the options, he has concluded that these combined actions are necessary in order to sure up the commonwealth’s current finances to insure financial stability in the short term and make the investments needed to foster the competitiveness and economic growth needed to insure financial stability in the longer term.
The Patrick administration’s plan includes many crucial cost saving reforms including the consolidation of various transportation agencies into one entity as well as changes to employee health insurance and pensions at the Turnpike Authority and MBTA. Policies using civilian flaggers in construction projects by Mass Highway and reducing overtime at the MBTA have already been instituted in the face of intense pushback from the unions. The current plan will further streamline operations and eliminate 300 positions.
These reforms and the gas hike will meet significant resistance from the unions and the legislature. However, while the gas tax will add an additional burden on Massachusetts working class families it does significantly dilute and spread the burden to a wider base than a reliance on toll increases alone; the difference for many drivers being $3 a week versus $3 a day. Plus the gas tax will encourage conservation and reduce pollution by providing an increased incentive to use more energy efficient forms of transportation throughout the state.
The business community actively campaigned against many of the Patrick administrations earlier revenue proposals including tax reform and critical portions of the Municipal Partnership Act and gave only lukewarm support to destination casinos. At the time many business groups proposed an increase in the gas tax as a revenue raising alternative.
The state gas tax has not been raised since 1991; meanwhile our regional transportation woes have escalated in a manner that threatens the long term growth of our economy.
It is now time for the business community to actively embrace Governor Patrick’s leadership on this issue and join him in his efforts to sell these reforms to the public and the legislature.
