‘Toll Equity’ Fails in Mass. Senate Budget Talks

We dodged a bullet this week!

As you may know the state Senate is “debating” the bloated $58 billion state budget. Yesterday there was discussion on an amendment filed by Senator Robyn Kennedy (D-Worcester) for toll equity. Her proposal was to put tolls everywhere across the state so commuters along the Mass Pike don’t pay the majority of the toll burden. 

As a true tax-and-spend Democrat, she did not want to end the Mass Pike tolls which were supposed to have been taken down more than 30 years ago after the bonds that were sold to pay for the road were paid off. To give you some context, those initial bonds were paid off when the governor was Michael Dukakis.

“Toll equity” would mean no tolls for anybody. But no, she wants more tolls.

Everyone should feel the pain.

Fortunately, her amendment was withdrawn, but the discussion continued about how our state needs transportation funding.

Really?

Massachusetts voters just passed the so-called millionaires’ tax which was supposed to go to our schools and transportation funding. Is that money not enough? Or was it diverted to welfare for the illegals?

When Kennedy withdrew her amendment, she spoke of the governor’s new Transportation Funding Task Force. As I have previously written, this task force has one mission and that is to get more money out of the wallets of American citizens who pay taxes and work for a living.

Kennedy hopes her fellow hacks might consider congestion pricing. What a hack suggestion!

I have an idea. How about auditing the Department of Transportation? I would like to know why it costs eight times the national average for administrative costs for maintaining our roads. Why is Massachusetts the second highest in the US in costs for road repair?

Why do we spend four times per mile more than New Hampshire?

Massachusetts drivers spend more than enough on our roads. We are getting clobbered by the high prices of gas and car insurance. Beacon Hill just got in new money from the millionaires’ tax – supposedly almost $2 billion extra, if you can believe the regime’s press releases.

When is enough enough?