Why I'd Rather Pay A Higher Gasoline Tax Than A Higher Sales Tax

Inspired by a great, newly discovered blog, I'll delve back into a topic that makes all of my readers head somewhere else: Massachusetts state politics. Little about state affairs these days comes anywhere close to inspiring or even serving as a fuzzy representation of good government. But what else can one expect when Salvatore DiMasi became the third consecutive House speaker to be indicted on federal charges and many of his former colleagues defended his record? (Great story by J.J. Huggins, by the way, one of the state's most underrated reporters and one of the nicest guys there is.)

However, one policy proposal remains that I still hope will be enacted sometime in the near future: a 19-cent-per-gallon increase in the state's gasoline tax. Gov. Patrick has pushed it for several months, but it has been routinely thwarted by the Legislature's leadership. First, members said they'd consider raising it by a smaller amount, but now have dismissed it altogether. Instead, as part of next fiscal year's budget, they voted to increase the state sales tax from 5 percent to 6.25 percent. (Patrick, in turn, has said he'll veto that hike if certain aspects of state government aren't first reformed.)

Obviously, everyone's objects to paying any higher tax, but if we want a certain level of services -- good public schools, state parks, care for the disabled, etc -- we have to pay for it. The post's title beats me to the punch on which one I think is better, but here's why:

Raising the sales tax only perpetuates Massachusetts' dysfunctional government. The money from it isn't devoted to any specific cause; it only fuels a bloated bureaucracy so it can continue lurching forward. Sure, within that monstrous bureaucracy are some talented people who staff good programs, but it's such an opaque, incomprehensible structure that no citizen can ever wrap his head (or arms) around it, which only engenders disbelief, mistrust and, eventually, pure anger. When three consecutive House speakers are indicted, why would anyone want to give more money to the enterprise they lead? Usually, I argue that a slightly larger tax does not drastically change people's spending habits -- are you really not going to eat at a restaurant because the bill is $25, instead of $23? -- but I think raising the sales tax actually has that effect. The next time I'm buying anything at least as big as a TV, why would I patronize a Massachusetts store when I can head to New Hampshire, a 35-minute drive away, and save at least $25? Appliance retailers should be very mad about this. I'm sure they are.

On the other hand, Patrick's proposal to raise the gasoline tax fixes two specific and pressing problems: the state's poorly funded public transportation and its poorly maintained infrastructure. Paying more for gasoline will bring tangible results in stable T fares, newly paved roads and repaired bridges. We know where the tax dollars will go. (Here is the administration's explanation for how each of the 19 cents would be used, which I think is very helpful.)

Furthermore, the proposal uses tax policy as it was designed: to encourage people to do the things that help society and dissuade them from doing things that don't. Circa 2009, it is irrefutable that the U.S. needs to confront global warming, climate change, and how many miles it drives per day, which are obviously intertwined. A higher gasoline tax promotes more efficient cars, public transportation and hopefully a lifestyle more cognizant of how tethered to cars we are. Ideally, this should be tied to a corresponding decrease in the income tax and happen on a federal level, but Patrick isn't that courageous and D.C.'s partisanship has essentially destroyed the possibility for true leadership in Congress, so I'll bite the bullet and take what I can get.

The author of the aforementioned blog would surely argue against the merits of a higher gasoline tax, but if he ever were to read this, perhaps I could persuade him that at least it's better than the sales one.