While advocates argue for raising the gas tax while gas prices are low, Massachusetts legislators are backing away from an idea they supported in March.
Adam Vaccaro reports:
Just a week before the Massachusetts economy was brought low by the coronavirus, the House of Representatives approved a transportation funding package that included a 5-cent per gallon hike in the gas tax, the first such increase in more than five years. The state Senate pledged to take up the issue later in the spring, promising an approach that would encourage more commuters to shift from personal cars to public transit.
Now it looks like gas tax increase isn't such a sure thing after all, as "key lawmakers overseeing transportation policy in each chamber sound like they’re having some second thoughts about the gas tax," according to Vaccaro.
While Massachusetts legislators balk at the idea (Vaccaro provides soundbites from key figures to back up this claim) advocates have been busy building a case that the current crisis, with its record-breaking low prices on oil, is a good time to raise the gas tax.
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