Republican gubernatorial nominee Mike Minogue is calling on Massachusetts to suspend its 24-cent-per-gallon gas tax, releasing a statewide television and digital advertisement on September 17 that argues the levy is piling onto financial pressures already squeezing families and workers as fuel prices climb.
Minogue, who says the tax is adding to the burden on Massachusetts households, made the case in an ad that landed as fuel prices rise amid geopolitical conflicts and disruptions to global oil markets, according to The Eagle-Tribune. The push comes just over two weeks after Minogue won the Massachusetts GOP gubernatorial primary on September 1, setting up a November face-off against incumbent Democratic Governor Maura Healey, per Ballotpedia.
The idea of pausing the state’s gas tax is not new to this year’s race.
Healey Has Already Said No
Healey was asked about gas-tax relief and attributed rising fuel costs to federal policies, the station reported. Relief efforts also included a $180 million winter utility bill reduction package. Massachusetts drivers currently pay 42.4 cents per gallon in combined excise taxes at the pump — the state’s 24-cent tax plus an 18.4-cent federal motor fuel tax, per the same report.
Minogue brings a business-and-military resume to his pitch. He served as a U.S. Army Infantry officer and earned a Bronze Star during Operation Desert Storm, then spent nearly 19 years as chairman, president and chief executive of Danvers-based medical device maker Abiomed before founding the non-profit MedTechVets, according to Ballotpedia. Hoodline previously reported that Minogue and running mate skipped a Trump rally in Dallas to chase Massachusetts voters instead.
A Tax With a History of Political Fights
Massachusetts’ 24-cent gas tax dates to July 2013, when the state Legislature voted to override then-Governor Deval Patrick’s veto of an $800 million transportation finance bill, raising the rate three cents from its prior 21-cent level, according to the American Road & Transportation Builders Association. Voters later approved a 2014 ballot question with 53% support that repealed a provision automatically indexing the tax to inflation, per the PD43+ Massachusetts Elections Division — which is why the rate has stayed flat at 24 cents for over a decade rather than climbing with the Consumer Price Index.
Former Governor Charlie Baker proposed a temporary suspension in 2022 when statewide pump prices were around $4.36 a gallon, but the Democratic-controlled Legislature rejected it, CBS News reported.
The Fine Print: Bonds Tied to the Tax
Any suspension would run into a fiscal complication baked into state law. Under Massachusetts financial statutes, 6.86 cents of the 24-cent gas tax is pledged to senior-lien gas-tax bonds, according to the Office of the Comptroller of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
The gas tax fight is now one more flashpoint in a general election campaign that has already produced two scheduled debates between Healey and Minogue, as Hoodline has reported. With Election Day in November approaching, the contrast is clear: Minogue wants to pause a tax that state finances depend on, while Healey is betting voters will prefer her utility bill relief package over a fight with Beacon Hill that Baker already lost once.
