A state rep from the town of Lee, MA, wants to levy a local gasoline tax, to fund local infrastructure. Lee is seeking a 3 cent per gallon tax to repair roads and bridges. Should Newton consider a gas tax? How much, and where would revenue best be spent?
A Newton gas tax to fund Newton infrastructure?
by Allison Sharma | Sep 16, 2015 | Newton | 13 comments
I would support a local gas tax, and use it exclusively for transportation infrastructure that helps reduce gasoline consumption.
The town of Lee has only a minimum tax base to support its infrastructure. By contrast, the approximately $300 m in annual property taxes generated in Newton should easily cover our needs.
Any new tax on drivers should be dedicated to improving the driving experience — improved roads/bridges, intersection upgrades, etc.
I wholeheartedly disagree with Lime Polar – the “driving experience” doesn’t need another cent before we improve the “pedestrian experience” and the “cycling experience.”
Case in point, yesterday I dropped my wife’s car off to get it fixed on Winchester St. and decided to walk to my parents’ house in Needham – what a pathetic, miserable pedestrian experience that is.
First I walked along the Upper Falls Greenway, which despite its unfinished and underfunded state still manages to provide a respite from the ugly automotive hell of Needham Street – but without regional coordination it will always be lacking any real utility. The path has been fenced off at the Charles by our lovely antisocial neighbors to the west, and even if it weren’t, the old railroad bridge over 128 has been removed with no plans for replacement, in order to accommodate the oh-so-environmentally-friendly add-a-lane project.
So, there I was, stuck walking along Highland Av. at Exit 19. Try walking or cycling there – it’s a miserable, life-endangering experience.
On the way back from Needham, I used Kendrick St. where MassDOT has shown nothing but contempt for pedestrians and cyclists during the ramp construction. No sidewalks, no bike lanes.
Having spent last week in pedestrian- and cycle-friendly Seoul – heaven compared to Boston – it was quite a homecoming. What the heck is the matter with this country?
But with regard to the local gas tax, I think it would be a drop in the bucket. Assuming every man, woman, and child in Newton were to be responsible for the consumption of ten gallons of gas per week, total revenue from a 3-cent-per-gallon revenue tax would be a whopping $26,391 per year. (Granted, lots of out-of-towners purchase their gas in Newton, but lots of Newtonites purchase their gas out-of-town as well – at the end of the day, I can’t imagine this would generate any more than $35,000 annually.)
I think you might have some bad math there. 85k residents * 10 gallons * 52 weeks * $0.03 = $1,326,000.
Better math. 2/3 of residents drive 12k miles per year. Buy 1/2 their gas in Newton, get 25 mpg on average. $408,000/year.
Whoops, that is indeed much better math than mine. Sorry, still trying to deal with the 13-hour time difference after getting back from Seoul.
While I agree Newton should do more for pedestrians and bicyclists, the funding should come from everyone, not just drivers. Same as roads for cars shouldn’t be funded solely by pedestrians and cyclers.
Excluding children and the elderly, the number of people who never drive is so small as to be statistically insignificant. The vast majority of pedestrians and cyclists also own a car and simply choose the best mode for the individual trip. The ones that don’t own a car at least occasionally rent.
I agree with RickW.
I think that if there is a gas tax it should be used to improve and pave roads, repair bridges, improve traffic calming measures and safety, particularly at intersections, including for pedestrians and bicyclers. That I would support as long as the gas tax collected is guaranteed never to float unseen to any other line item. I would also want some ending point established when its success would be evaluated and a contingency plan to reassess if gas prices skyrocket again.
Newton roads have become a thruway to 128 and Boston and some of the passers by must get gas here at times so I like that the revenue would include them – or we could give residents a Newton only transponder but charge a toll for our neighbors. J/k on the last part
(Because I realize my sarcasm is evidently confusing to some even when I think I’m being far fetched enough to not be taken seriously, I will add j/k for clarity.)
@Marti and Rick – I wasn’t saying that none of the hypothetical gas tax money should be used for things like traffic calming, improving pedestrian intersections, etc. I was addressing Michael, who said not a cent of it should go to driving-related improvements.
I would happily pay a gas tax that was was dedicated to “improve and pave roads, repair bridges, improve traffic calming measures and safety, particularly at intersections, including for pedestrians and bicyclers.”
This is an idea worth exploring, but it needs to be informed by data on the elasticity of demand for gasoline in Newton. That is, how easy and likely is it that motorists will choose to refuel outside of Newton boundaries if Newton taxes gasoline? Taxes are most effective when elasticity is low – when consumers of the good have few other options and therefore accept the higher price instead of substituting for a different product.
If we can determine that motorists in Newton have inelastic demand (that they won’t just drive next door to Wellesley to fill up because the price goes up 5%) then this might be an effective way to improve roads, sidewalks, and bicycle lanes. If we determine that motorists in Newton have elastic demand (they will just drive next town over when the price goes up) then all this tax will do is hurt gasoline merchants in Newton.
Awesome, it’s Principles of Microeconomics, 34th edition! Oh how I missed ye.
Jake, you’d probably agree its a matter of degree rather than a binary elastic or inelastic. Your 5% number would amount to about 10 cents per gallon at current gas prices, whereas the 3 cent per gallon in Lee is a little over 1%. Somewhere in between might be a zone of elasticity sensitivity. I think a gas tax could be implemented in a progressive fashion to optimize its effectiveness. A broader outcome could be that cities and towns across the Commonwealth follow the lead of Lee, achieving a statewide outcome.
We do not need another tax, all this will do is hurt the service stations that are left in Newton and build up the business for service stations in suronding towns.