Pignatelli Bill Would Exempt Towns, Cities from Gas Tax
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Lawmakers in the eastern end of the state are mulling the increase, which would hike the state gas tax to 50 cents, to offset a proposal to do away with the tolls along the Massachusetts Turnpike, harbor tunnels and the Tobin Bridge. That would mean not only higher taxes for residents but for towns and cities as well.
State Rep. William "Smitty" Pignatelli filed a bill this week to shield municipalities and state agencies from not only the increase but from any state gas tax.
"In a time of drastic cuts in local aid and of towns scrambling to find ways to make ends meet, it is imperative that we do all we can to help towns and agencies survive these tumultuous times," said the Lenox Democrat.
Bay State towns and cities have been complaining for decades about being double-taxed when it comes to gasoline. While the U.S. government exempts states and municipalities from paying the federal levy, Massachusetts doesn't.
"If the governor and the Legislature really wanted to do something for local communities under the so-called Municipal Partnership Act" they would look at the gas tax, Williamstown Town Manager Peter Fohlin told the Selectmen on Monday night. "Every city and town in the commonwealth feels as though we should be exempted from the gasoline tax."
Residents not only have to pay the tax every time they're at the pump, they pay again every time a town truck or vehicle fills up, he said, speculating more Williamstown drivers would head to Bennington, Vt., for gas.
Pignatelli expressed his disagreement with the gas tax last fall; the issue has become even more important, he said, with the impending $128 million cut to local aid proposed by Gov. Deval Patrick.
"It sends the wrong message," he told The Pittsfield Gazette in November. "We have been subsidizing the Big Dig for too long."
Tolls pay for repair and maintenance of the MassPike and the multibillion-dollar, trouble-plagued Central Artery Project, better known as the Big Dig. Proponents say the tax could bring in $1.6 billion annually for road and bridge projects, including the Pike and Big Dig.
