LYNN — Sen. Brendan Crighton said he does not support a statewide gas tax suspension, despite rising gas prices and a call from President Joseph R. Biden Jr. on Wednesday that Congress suspend the tax for three months.
Crighton said suspending the tax on a state level will not lower gas prices, which sit at just under $5/gal in Essex County, and instead provide a tax cut to oil companies.
“This is not a tax where consumers would see a 24 cents/gal refunded to them, this is a tax that the oil companies would not have to pay,” Crighton said in a telephone interview Thursday. “This is not something that would benefit our consumers.”
Crighton said that steady or rising gas prices in New York and Connecticut, states that have both passed gas tax suspensions, shows a lack of evidence that gas tax suspensions work to reduce gas prices on a consumer level. Additionally, Crighton said suspending the tax could hurt the state government.
“In other states near us like Connecticut and New York, they have suspended the gas tax, and they have not seen any relief for their consumers. In fact, they’ve seen the price of gasoline go even higher,” Crighton said. “Suspending the gas tax sounds like it helps people, but it actually just hurts our ability to fund our roads, our bridges, our public transit systems, while not at all benefitting our consumers. We have seen no evidence that the consumers will get this money back.”
Gov. Charlie Baker has also called on lawmakers to suspend the tax in an effort to alleviate economic pressures on state residents.
“There is more than enough funding available to suspend the gas tax,” Baker wrote on Twitter.
Crighton said he empathizes with his constituents, and is dedicated to finding a more effective way to reduce prices at the pump.
“There are other ways that we need to find financial relief for my constituents. I hear from them all the time, obviously feeling the pains of inflation, feeling the pains of the cost of fuel, and I know that people are hurting,” he said. “We are working hard to find the best way to actually benefit them, not through gimmicks that don’t put any money in their pockets, but rather through smart financial policies.”
Although Crighton said he has no official plan at this time for consumer gas price reduction, he and his fellow Senators are “keeping everything on the table” to find a productive solution.
“Right now, we can say firmly, we are committed to providing relief and we’re trying to figure out the best way to do so as quickly as possible,” Crighton said. “I absolutely feel the pain that my constituents are feeling. We just want to be responsible about how we handle it, and I certainly don’t want to pass something that feels good at the time, but doesn’t provide the relief that folks want.”
Anthony Cammalleri can be reached at [email protected].
