Governor Baker against Massachusetts gas tax, pushes for regional approach to address carbon emissions

Michael P. Norton of State House News

As Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker tries to hold together a regional compact to reduce emissions from 50 million vehicles, it appears Democratic legislative leaders may need to assemble a two-thirds majority in both branches if they plan to push through a gas tax increase as a cornerstone of their still-developing transportation investment bill.

The 11-state Transportation Climate Initiative (TCI) could cause gas prices to rise by 5 to 17 cents per gallon, but Baker feels the regional approach is the best way to cut transportation emissions because it would force the industry to buy carbon allowances, which Baker says would incentivize automakers and fuel suppliers to invest in clean vehicles, charging stations and alternative fuels rather than conducting business as usual.

Just raising the state gas tax won’t create a reason for the auto and gas industry to address carbon emissions or greenhouse gas emissions, the governor said during a WGBH radio interview last week.

“They just pass it through to the customer and the customer pays it,” Baker said during his “Ask the Governor” segment on Jan. 22.

“Putting a tax on something is not the same as creating a cap and invest program,” Baker said. Pressed twice by host James Braude on whether he would veto a gas tax increase, Baker, who has previously expressed his opposition to a gas tax hike, finally said, “If that’s all it was, yeah.”

Baker added, “We need to create some incentives for people to change in a big way on the supply side.”

The governor was even more direct in an interview on WEEI Thursday morning: “I don’t support a gas tax, period. And if the Legislature sends us one we will send it back to them. Is that clear enough?”

Gas price impacts, whether from the regional compact or a state gas tax increase, appear to be shaping up as a major factor in the development, over months now, of a House transportation revenue bill. House Speaker Robert DeLeo wants to put that bill before the House by April at the latest.

A top Baker aide recently commented on the interplay between TCI and gax tax increases.

“It would be very difficult to get both approved at the same time,” Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Kathleen Theoharides told Boston Globe columnist Shirley Leung recently. “I worry if we try to do both at the same time we don’t get TCI.”

Some state legislators are likely feeling uneasy about passing a large gas tax increase during an election year, just as some Northeast and mid-Atlantic governors weighing TCI are expressing reservations about that compact’s impact on gas prices.

Support or opposition to raising the gas tax could emerge as an issue among the candidates competing in five special legislative elections that voters are set to decide in March.

There are three vacancies in the House, where Democrats hold 125 seats, 31 districts are represented by Republicans, and one member is an independent. The Senate has two vacancies, both in districts recently represented by Republicans. Senate Democrats currently outnumber Republicans by a 34-4 margin.