Question #1: Eliminating the Gas Tax Indexing

On November 4th, vote ‘yes’ on ballot question number one. This law would get rid of the increase in the state gasoline tax that is added on each year.

If this new law does not go into effect, then there will be no change in the current gasoline tax law. This means that each year (starting with September 2013 at 24 cents/gallon), the gasoline tax will be adjusted according to the percentage that the Consumer Price Index changes. However, the tax cannot reach below 21.5 cents per gallon.

Why vote “yes”? The answer is simple. The gas law we have now is an example of “taxation without representation”. This is due to the fact that the Legislature does not vote to adjust the gas tax each year; the tax is adjusted automatically.

People will argue that this law is needed to help repair our bridges and roads. They say that if it is taken away, there will be no money to fix these road issues; that it will cost taxpayers more money and make our roads a safety hazard.

Blah, blah, blah! Since the law has already in effect, why haven’t our roads improved? There is no point in feeding them money if they aren’t going to do anything with it. This has been shown in the past. Also, if we get rid of this current law, there will still be money going towards bridge and road repair.

Don’t forget – An average 15 gallon fill-up already costs $6.73 in taxes because of the 26.5 cent tax going to the state and the 18.4 cent tax to the federal government. In addition, taxes have increased greatly and registry fees have gone up by 20%. There is no “real” effective result that comes from these gas taxes, except more money from taxpayers.

Voting ‘no’ will change absolutely nothing about the gas tax law: The tax will be adjusted each year without a vote from the Legislature, more money will go towards “supposive” road work, and you’ll end up paying hefty amounts of money for taxes.

Do the right thing, vote ‘yes’ and stop feeding into the same tax trap.

Resource:

“QUESTION 1: Law Proposed by Initiative Petition.” William       Francis Galvin,Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.    Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 2014. Web. 23                                                                             Oct. 2014. <http://www.sec.state.ma.us/ele/ele14/pip141.htm>.