Massachusetts voters could scrap a new law that indexes the state gas tax to inflation.
Question 1: “Eliminating Gas Tax Indexing” – An initiated state statute, Question 1 could repeal a law passed this past legislative session indexing the Massachusetts state gas tax to inflation – eliminating a vote-less backdoor tax hike on taxpayers. The initiative reads “This proposed law would eliminate the requirement that the state’s gasoline tax, which was 24 cents per gallon as of September 2013, (1) be adjusted every year by the percentage change in the Consumer Price Index over the preceding year, but (2) not be adjusted below 21.5 cents per gallon.” Voters are told: “A YES VOTE would eliminate the requirement that the state’s gas tax be adjusted annually based on the Consumer Price Index. A NO VOTE would make no change in the laws regarding the gas tax.”
In addition to the ballot language, voters are also presented with an argument in favor of eliminating the gas tax indexing, as well as an argument against. The initiative has the support of several legislators and Jeffrey T. Kuhner (President of the Edmund Burke Institute for American Renewal) who notes in The Washington Times: “…the law is more than a corrupt attempt to hike taxes through the back door. It represents a fundamental assault on the very basis of our constitutional republic: No taxation without representation. This law does the very opposite. It enshrines the pernicious principle of taxation without representation. Democratic lawmakers have given themselves a free pass from voting for any future gas tax increases. This violates the basic precept of self-government – namely, that elected representatives can only raise the people’s taxes with their explicit consent through a vote in the legislature. The precedent is ominous. Today, it is gas taxes that will be hiked automatically. Tomorrow, it will be property, sales and income taxes. It is liberal corruption at its worst – a one-party regime that doesn’t even pretend to care about democratic accountability and government transparency.”