Oil fell to $93-a-barrel. Gas prices are likely to fall as well. The time is ripe to raise Massachusetts’ gas tax from its present $.21 to $.31 and then another dime every two years for the next ten years.
We have seen that we can survive higher gas prices. And, we’ve seen that higher gas prices drive a virtuous cycle: fewer miles driven, higher transit usage, more bicycles on the road.
We desperately need more revenue to pay off the bridge bond bill and to help the MBTA meet its operating costs and service its ridiculous debt.
Raise the gas tax, now.
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The time is right for you to get a job and move out of your mommas basement.
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p>2. Oil prices are down today because of volatility in the financial sector. They’ll probably be up again next week and you can bet they’re trending up in the long-run .
That they also abolish the Turnpike Authority, and eliminate its tolls. Then maybe I’d go along with it. As for using gas tax money to subsidize the MBTA, that’s an emphatic no from me. I see little connection between a gallon of gas purchased in North Adams or Aquinnah and mass transit in Somerville. Gas tax money should be used to maintain the roads. Mass transit should be paid for by fares, assessments to the communities that they actually serve, and then lastly, from general tax revenues.