Upton, MA…Chief organizers for the ballot question to repeal the automatic gas tax hikes, State Representative Geoff Diehl, Steve Aylward and Marty Lamb announced that Iraq War Veteran and candidate for State Representative Shawn Craig will be coordinating their effort in Upton.
“I am glad that Shawn Craig will be helping us out in Upton, Grafton and Northbridge area as we need to get another 11,000 signatures. I am proud to have him as a member of our team,” said State Representative Geoff Diehl. “Shawn understands that automatic gas tax hikes are wrong and that this form of taxation hurts the middle class and working poor the most.”
“It is outrageous that Beacon Hill is increasing our gas tax every year for the rest of lives without a vote. That’s taxation without representation. It is wrong and we are going to stop it,” said Steve Aylward, lead sponsor of the ballot initiative.
Last fall the ballot campaign collected 120,000 raw signatures to start the process of getting their question on the November 2014 ballot. The legislature has failed to act, so the group now has to collect another 11,000 signatures by June 18th to finally secure placement.
Craig will be working with the team to help collect the needed signatures. He will be out-door knocking this weekend in the three towns to get signatures.
“This automatic gas tax hike should have been repealed with the tech tax. If the legislature wants more of our hard-earned paychecks, then they should have to vote on it. This linking of the gas tax to inflation is an abdication of responsibility,” said Craig.
Those people wanting to help Craig in Upton, Northbridge and Grafton can contact him at 508-603-9758.
The initial supporters of the ballot initiative include Marty Lamb, Chris Pinto, Republican National Committee woman Chanel Prunier, Les Gosule who passed Melissa’s law in 2012, Jeff Bailey, State Representative Leah Cole, Stephen Coulter, Alex Vispoli, State Representative Geoff Diehl, State Representative Jim Lyons, State Representative Marc Lombardo, Rick Gleason of the Massachusetts Motorcycle Association, Rich Howell, Paul Craney of Mass Fiscal, Desiree Awiszio, Jamie Kang, Mike Mosca, Marylou Daxland, Katie Regan, State Representative Shaunna O’Connell, John O’Mara of the Northborough Tea Party, and many more.
Last summer the legislature passed the so-called transportation bill which included a gas tax hike, a new tax on computer software, and a cigarette tax increase. It also linked the gas tax to the CPI which allows the gas tax to increase every year without a vote of the legislature.
The attorney for the group is former U.S. Attorney Mike Sullivan.
For more information visit StopAutomaticTaxHikes.com.
UPTON DAILY 
Taxachusetts. It’s getting too expensive to live here. We are taxed and ret-axed on what little money we earn…..taxed to death and beyond…..
Debbie and Shawn & Tea Baggers: Study up. MA Gas Tax revenue does not go into the general fund.
“Any claim that that money isn’t for transportation is simply not true,” said Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation President Michael Widmer. “As you well know, the transportation financing law had a lot of moving pieces, but the clearest new transportation funding going to transportation are the taxes on gas and the gas tax indexing.”
source: http://www.commonwealthmagazine.org/News-and-Features/Online-exclusives/2013/Fall/015-Gas-tax-index-foes-play-fast-with-facts.aspx#.U21Ecf8U-Uk
Billions of $$$ are needed to fix our roads and bridges. An indexed gas tax is a reasonable small step towards solving the problem. And, all the better for the planet that it will tax those driving less efficient vehicles a bit more. I more I hear from Craig, the less impressed I am.
The problem with your thinking is that you are assuming that gas taxes are going to fix roads and bridges, correct? Not so. The gas tax money goes into a “general fund” to be used however Beacon Hill feels, and quite frankly, how they are abusing tax payers dollars is outrageous these days. The idea of “automatic” tax increases (no automatic tax deceases by the way) is a dangerous step in the wrong direction. Nothing wrong with Craig.
We currently pay 26 cents per gallon in state tax plus 18 cents federal. Had the legislature indexed the gas tax the last time they raised it, we would be paying 85 cents per gallon in state tax for a grand total of $1.03 per gallon. So when you fill-up with 10 gallons you’d be paying $10.00 in taxes.
Still, the problem here isn’t having a tax on gas, it’s letting our elected officials set the cruise control while abdicating their responsibility to us. We simply want them to vote so we may by extension hold them accountable for their actions. After all, we elect them to make the difficult decisions. Debbie is absolutely correct that the legislature set a floor so that this tax cannot go down even in a deflationary market but in fact will continue to increase with inflation even when the state has a SURPLUS such as NOW and for a second year in a row.
The governor has for a second year now only allowed 200 of the 300k budgeted roads money (Ch. 90) to be released meaning that even if the remaining were released later this year we’d be paying through the nose to pay someone to complete the work before the season ends. The state still doesn’t consider in its distribution the road damage due to vehicles from outside the area, e.g., all the cars cutting through Upton down Hartford/Hopkinton Rd.
Last, and in reference to our surplus, the state doesn’t have a revenue problem. It has a spending problem fraught with waste, fraud and abuse which is something I’ve professionally been working to reduce in the US securities markets with much success for the last decade. It’s time to restore integrity to the state house.
And yes, it should be 200 of the 300 million, not thousand…
A perfect example of why we need to vote for Shawn Craig.