To the Editor,
We all want clean, safe water, schools, neighborhoods and roads, but many people ask, “Why are my property taxes always going up, and the roads not being fixed?” We certainly pay enough taxes and fees to the City and State. So what’s the problem?
In Massachusetts, road maintenance costs three times the national average. Massachusetts does not have a revenue problem. It has a spending problem, with unfunded mandates, unelected bureaucrats, non-governmental agencies and powerful politicians with misplaced priorities that are better at developing schemes to raise taxes for a specific purpose and eventually not spending our hard earned tax dollars on its intended purpose.
Our state has a 43 billion dollar budget and 3.3 billion in its Rainy Day Fund. It has taken in nearly a billion dollars per year in surplus revenue in many of the last five years. The Legislature raised the gas tax by 3 cents in 2013. Gas taxes are supposed to go to fix roads. However none of it went to roads, but rather into the black hole known as the MBTA. The Registry of Motor Vehicles takes in 600 million dollars for an operation that costs 60 million to operate. Where does the other 540 million go? It does not go to fix our roads. The state house and Governor refuse to increase Chapter 90 funding for roads. The state only provides cities and towns 200 million dollars a year, when it ought to be 300 to 500 million.
We have a state government that does not keep its promises or use funds (taxes) for their intended purpose. The tolls on the Mass Pike were supposed to come down after it was paid for. The state takes hundreds of millions out of The Lottery fund, originally created to provide funding to cities and towns. The millions Westfield has lost over the last 8 years represents about half of our property tax increases and strains our city budget.
The state is notorious for changing the rules after the fact or trying to take control away from local officials while adding costs to small business, or public and private projects. This is why the Westfield City Council voted to dissolve the Business Improvement District (BID) and rejected Complete Streets.
Buckle Up friends, because now state legislators are pushing to add tolls to other roads.
In another effort, our Governor is leading a coalition with officials from 11 other states whose goal is to institute a regional cap-and-trade program that would apply to emissions from cars and trucks. This cap and trade scheme is called the Transportation Climate Initiative (TCI) and would raise the cost of gas for families and small businesses in Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Delaware and Maryland. Most states are seeking legislative approval to enact this regional cap-and-tax scheme, but Governor Baker wants to do it by executive order, without a vote of the legislature. What could possibly go wrong? Our elected leaders and unelected bureaucrats need to hear from us. Now. A lot of bad legislation gets passed at Christmas or in the middle of summer when voters are not paying attention.
According to our State Constitution all state taxes must originate in the House. Governor Baker does not have authority to unilaterally raise taxes. Commonwealth Magazine reported that “The expectation of policy makers is that the cost of the allowances will be passed along to drivers at the gas pump, incentivizing them to use less, and the states will divvy up allowance money to support public transit and deal with climate change.”
The fund would allow powerful politicians to control and spend money completely separate from the legislature on non-road projects. Voters have repeatedly rejected gas tax hikes and carbon taxes. In California, where a similar program was launched, gas prices went up 12 to 14 cents a gallon and are over 4 dollars today. TCI is attempting to bypass the democratic process without forcing the legislature to take a vote.
CONTACT YOUR STATE LEGISLATORS TODAY
- Submit your opinion to the TCI bureaucrats by going to:
www.transportationandclimate.org/main-menu/tci-regional-policy-design-stakeholder-input-form
- Complete MassFiscal’s Call to Action to contact your lawmakers by going to:
www.votervoice.net/MASSFISCAL/Campaigns/68952/Respond
- Post these two links to your social media pages to spread the message to other like-minded taxpayers.
- Please forward this information to your co-workers, friends, and family so they can do the same.
Daniel Allie
Westfield At-Large City Councilor
