Beacon Hill Democrats on verge of ramming through new gas tax disguised as a climate initiative

July 30, 2020

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:

Evan Lips, communications director

617-523-5005 ext. 245

WOBURN -- Beacon Hill Democrats are on the cusp of handing taxation authority to unelected government bureaucrats after advancing the so-called Transportation Climate Initiative out of the Joint Committee on Ways and Means, meaning a House vote is imminent and full passage is all but assured.

The vote to advance TCI, essentially a new tax on gasoline and diesel consumption, comes as Massachusetts is faced with record 17 percent unemployment. The new tax is disguised under a term lawmakers call a "market-based compliance mechanism." More specifically, the legislation references "a system of charges or exactions imposed to reduce statewide greenhouse has emissions in whole or in part."

A recent study performed by the Beacon Hill Institute determined that TCI's "market-based compliance mechanism," which would be dictated by bureaucrats and not elected officials, will result in a 26-cent per gallon increase in the price of gasoline and hit the average Massachusetts household with an extra $738 in annual expenses.

The legislation identifies the Department of Environmental Protection as responsible for setting and enforcing the surcharges.

"The Democrats are advocating for an unelected government bureaucracy to set these new taxes, meaning that once they kick in, the taxes will be with us forever," said Massachusetts Republican Party Chairman Jim Lyons. "This is taxation without representation, and once again the Democrats have gone too far."

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