Patrick considers higher fees for gas guzzlers

This is still B.S. while my toll may not increase I am still paying more that the people using 93 N/S. Why do I have to pay more than they guy next store that uses the same roadways (Big Dig)

So, let me get this straight. Let's say that you own a Chevy Tahoe.. Your registration is now based on the miles you drive, the gas guzzler formula, and let's not forget, the assumed value of the vehicle. Nice! Now we get to pay based on 3 different scales. You have to love the liberal mind-set of taxation into compliance. I wonder how the taxes will be calculated on his Cadillac.. Oh, wait, we pay for that too!

This idea is sickening. It sounds like the bicycle commuters are asking to be run off the road. And just when does the gas tax get phased-out? When does any tax ever get phased-out?

We need to utilize everything in out power to reduce our dependence on foreign oil including using our own natural resources.OPEC will continue to cut production until they achieve their desired 80-100. per barrel. The high cost of fuel this past year seriously damaged our economy and society. Oil is finite. We are using oil globally at the rate of 2X faster than new oil is being discovered. We need to take some of these billions in bail out bucks and bail ourselves out of our dependence on foreign oil. Jeff Wilson has a really good new book out called The Manhattan Project of 2009 Energy Independence Now. He explores our uses of oil besides gasoline, our depletion, out reserves and stores as well as viable options to replace oil.Oil is finite, it will run out in the not too distant future. WE need to take some of these billions in bail out bucks and bail America out of it's dependence on foreign oil. The historic high price of gas this past year did serious damage to our economy and society. WE should never allow others to have that much power over our economy again.Terry

What about those of us who need to use pickup trucks and vans in our business? Thanks for the small business support Deval.

On the gas tax vs. usage. gas tax is currently about $ 0.21 per gallon. The Governor wants to impose a $ 0.25 per mile usage tax as per yesterday's Globe. Let me see, my work pickup gets 20 miles to the gallon. So on a mileage basis I am currently paying $ 0.0105 per mile. Just doing the math in my head it looks like the Gov is looking for a 2500 % increase.

Well now I am sooooooooo happy I didnt vote for this so called Gov. What a clown !!! A tax for the miles we drive ??? Are you freaking kidding me.
Come on Mass....."Together we didnt."....Dump Duval in 2010

this is unamerican

Let's think hard before we use any ideas from either New Jersey or California. Those two states have the worst budget messes in the country, and higher end tax payors leaving the states in droves. We need to simplify and lower all taxes in Mass to make this state attractive, rather than encourage the highest earners to locate elsewhere (a developing problem here).

Well considering that the rest of society pays the cost of consumption, as in through the extra load large cars place on the road (traffic, wear and tear, etc) and the environment, is it really fair to ask the rest of society to pay for your consumption? In any case, angry feedback does no one much good. Coherent intellectual arguments are for more effective.

In Europe this is the "cc" tax -- You pay on the size (in cubic centimeters) of your engine. This is elegantly simple: you can drive a big horkin' car with no power or a little car with lots of power, but if you choose both it costs an arm and a leg. Combined with generally higher fuel prices, most Europeans do what the American Idiots® here won't, which is to just drive as much car as they really need.

(BTW I don't claim Europeans have it all figured out, but in this case they're miles [kilometers] ahead of the US.)

Quit your belly-aching whimpers!
You will pay what ever is on the machine while you go off to work to make more monies to continue paying for the same amount of gas at the different price. This is how it works...get over it!

So, my 30 mile commute (each way) will cost me fuel, tolls, and $15 per day in taxation? I should quit, become poor, and start getting stimulated!

If you're driving a Hummer H1, H2, H3, Cadillac Escalade EXT, Navigator or any of these gas hogs, you can certainly afford a higher price for registration. These vehicles are heavier, they do more damage to the roads and they are destroying the environment. Hands off the commercial pickups needed for livelihood, but if you are driving a Range Rover, you can afford the increased cost. Too bad we could not take it one step further and surcharge the Escalade/Rover/Navigator crowd with tiered gas prices so that every these hogs are filled up they pay more. Good for Deval!

Every one will just Move to Nh

when will Deval get it

We need to cut state retirement benefits for police and state workers

Its the the way

Its not $0.25... its a quarter of a cent = 0.025....

Tax on Hummers, etc.. which most likely will all be American made cars, so lets hurt the American auto industry some more. We get punished for buying American and then get tax increases to help them out. Really? How about giving discounts for buying American products, let's start helping OUR workers! Are we sure Coup Deval and Obama didn't take the same economic classes?

Is a Caddy considered a gas guzzler? If passed, the idea will create several million dollars of new taxes, but will need to be "administered" (by "Deer in the Headlights" Patrick's cronies) at a cost that will exceed the new tax. Perfect Democratic plan: higher taxes with no one but cronies benefitting under the guise of a "green" concept. The Man is Brillant and a great tribute to his party.
ps. Big families, need big cars. If passed, this would hurt those that need the help most.

Patrick is waiting until Friday to say how much more he is going to grab out of our wallets. And its a Friday when schools are out and people are focused on their kids. His gas tax will kill this economy more than it already is. A hike in the gas tax will cause just about everything to go up in price. What a stupid move in the middle of the recession!! He will preserve government, but drive a lot more businesses to close. I admit to having voted for him, but never, ever again. I will work hard for whoever his opponent turns out to be. He has already rasied taxes six times - and he's far from being done with that. He's one of the most clueless governors we have ever had. He needs to go - he is killing this state.

Ok so I paid more tax on my suv sales tax i.e. a higher vehicle price this greater sales tax the reduction for the alternative fuel vehicle on sales tax. So if you drive a small or mid size suv a requirement to get through our New England winters and pot holed roads I will have to pay more than a hybrid who just drives around for the fun of it. So I guess I the owner of a pick up or suv is helping society more contributing to education to public safety and other things government does while the owner of a hybrid is not paying there fare share . Plus in light of potential pollution issues would it not make sense to have the Suv and low mileage big rigs receive a preference to special lanes to not only reduce there time on the road but also to reduce air pollution . While the hybrid sits in congestion going into electric mode and producing no harmful emissions. Sounds like good public policy idea .

This Governor of ours is thrashing virtually aimlessly trying to increase revenues. He should concentrate on getting wanton sate spending under control rather trhan pushing 'PC' buttons in an attempt slip more and more revenue enhancements by us.

What else is new..Tax Tax Tax spells Taxachusetts, is this all a surprise.
Deval is no different than all the past democrats. Next Deval will want the gas stations in NH to also collect the gas tax from Mass drivers. What a laugh.

I drive a 1998 Tahoe because that I bought 8 years ago....I refuse to buy a new car because it works fine and I can't afford it. How is that fair??? So I am being penalized because I can't afford a new car...that is ridiculous.

OK, I can see a tax on the gas guzzlers, because anyone foolish enough to drive those junk buckets deserve to be penalized.
But this guy [Patrick] is just tax crazy! First cigarettes , now he's pitching a gas tax on EVERYONE, a border toll....what's next??
Monitor peoples oxygen in-take and tax the on that??

If there's a God, Patrick will be a one-termer!

So let me get this straight, I drive a pick-up an average of 150 miles a week, ride my bike or walk locally to save money on gas, and I'm going to be charged more than the guy in the small "efficient" vehicle that commutes from NH to Boston every day averaging over 600 miles a week. How fair is that? And with today's economy how can Deval expect people to run out and buy more fuel efficient vehicles. Maybe he can afford to drive anything he wants but a recent news article reported on how people are opting to repair vehicles they currently own because they can't afford to buy a new one.

Lets see the prius using nickle metals found only in canada, those are shipped from canada to the china in HUGE ships, then processed and shipped again to Japan plus This plant that mines the nickle has caused so much environmental damage to the surrounding environment that NASA has used the ‘dead zone’ around the plant to test moon rovers. The area around the plant is devoid of any life for miles. When you pool together all the combined energy it takes to drive and build a Toyota Prius, it takes almost 50 percent more energy than a Hummer

And so we continue the Pussification of America.

I hope everyone put a word out to their broker to invest in Toyota and Honda, because if the liberals continue to suggest measures such as this one, all we will be driving will be cramped, underpowered, ugly and cheap econo-boxes for the next 30 years.

RIP Auto enthusiasm 1910-2009 You will be missed ; _ ;

This is awesome, simply put business owners don't need a hummer... they are useless. If they need a big car for 'work' that means they need to transports heavy material or lots of people.
Heavy material=trucks
People=vans
Hummers=same capacity as a car but use more gas (don't really need them unless you live in Iraq or a warzone)

Get real. You know the bigger cars and SUVs are costing everyone more in road maintenance and pollution (leading to health problems thus health care costs). Is it un-American to ask those owners to pay their fair share?? Oh wait. Yes. Right what was I thinking.

Yes, do it. There is no really good reason not to - families shouldn't be in SUVs anyway. I've never known an owner of an SUV to actually use it as an off-road go anywhere type of vehicle.

Do it now!

Go for it Patrick! It's about time states started getting proactive about encouraging residents to be more fuel-efficient, which will mean MA residents have more money to spend on things other than gas over the long run.

Now, how about adding a tax deduction for bike commuting while we're at it?

Florida had a weight classification tax based on the vehicle weight back in the '60s in the price of a new car tag. Good measure, heavier vehicles cause more road wear, get poorer gas mileage, cause more crash damage to lighter vehicles, etc. However, not all cars of the same weight get the same gas mileage, so tax the gas (more) too. This is easy, encourages smaller vehicles and frees us from dependence on the Russia, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and others that use our money to promote our downfall. Don't make this complicated since complications produce loopholes that will render it useless.

What if we can't HELP having a gas guzzler?! I inherited my '00 Nissan XTerra from a family member when they moved away, and I'm only a college student. I can't afford to pay any more than I already do on this hunk of metal!

And because of the economy, my parents cannot afford to get new cars, and both of theirs are gas guzzlers because they're AMERICAN cars.

Hmm. Why not tax the american car companies and make them produce better cars that are better for the enviroment?

This is just not right.....although i'm for a greener tomorrow and I also agree that Hummers are worthless.......but an individual has the freedom to do what ever the hell he/she wants with is money.....just as long as everyone has the same opportunity to purchase that Hummer, What makes this America is the freedom to do whatever he/she wants......so If i want an H1 with my salary.....i better not get taxed higher because I want to loose more money in the long run.....taxing the purchase of a hummer and giving a tax decrease to those who buy environmentally sound vehicles.....is a chunk taken right out of our personal freedom.....

"We need to utilize everything in out power to reduce our dependence on foreign oil including using our own natural resources", Do you really mean that? If so open up drilling in Alaska, open up slant drilling in California. Start utilizing the oil in this county.

This isn't about foreign oil, it's just another ridiculous tax masked as a noble cause.

Yes please! This is a no brainer! Yes on the hummer tax!

Don't forget about the new tolls on Route 93 and Route 3 that people living on the border will also get to pay. Oh, when they say "don't worry, in 2 years we'll get rid of the gas tax", just remember the line they told us about the tolls being removed once the Mass Pike was paid for.

AMEN! Why doesn't anyone consider simple Supply and Demand with the price of gas issues? The more supply used, the higher the price to ration it out. The emergence of Hummers and other low MPG SUV's aren't helping matters. This is Economics 101!

So people and the economy are hurting so why not hurt them more?? These ideas are rediculous. I need a full size truck because I am a contractor and need to work to pay my bills and support my family. I never take the pike so why do I need to pay for it?? All of these stupid ideas to suck more money from tax payers is only making things worse. How about you start drug testing people on welfare and un employment. If they don't pass the drug test they get no money. That will save the government millions of dollars. Us stand up citizens that work, pay taxes, pay mortgage, and contribute to society suffer. Wake up and realize it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

aaawwwwsome... faantastic.. this is the most truly and totally brand unbiased move..
this will surely kill all those zombie, fit for nothing car models and hurt their owners (one shot 2 kills).. maybe they should also consider a proportional tax slab (based on income?) for those maniacs who have lots of money stashed in their banks and keep buying big suv's for no reason.. only the physically less-abled who need to use the re-fitted caravans should get a waiver..

one step for a small state, giant leap for a better future...

Hummers should be destroyed. Period.

This is a great idea, but I think people who have already purchased over sized vehicles should be exempted. There should also be a business vehicle exemption, it would be easy to define since they're already written off to begin with.

As far as the gas tax... Low gas prices are going to cause people to buy bigger cars, and cause gas prices to go up. I'd rather see the US get the $0.025 a gallon that Iran.

This is a great idea. Also anyone with a big house should pay much more taxes! Any house over looking the ocean should pay double!

Hey i've got a great idea.... why not manage the money that your already bleeding from us properly?

It's time for a real change

It's NOT about Hummers! I hate that its even coined that. They did that intentionaly to illicit the type of supportive response you see here. Its a tax on all vehicles with an MPG reating below a certain number. It will likely be a 22 mpg cut-off wich includes all light trucks. This is BS!

it should never have made for public at first place. demolish this piece of ....

I bought a Toyota Tundra in 2004. I drive to the office 4x per week, about 15 miles each way, and I use the truck for things around the house (small projects, yard work, etc).

So because I bought a truck, paid more for it up front than a small car, paid more sales tax, and pay higher gas costs, now I get hammered with another charge on top of that, 5 years later?

I paid that money willingly, for the convenience of having the truck, but I can't believe this is even a serious proposal. How about we balance the burden and raise the gas tax on everyone, since by all rights I should be paying NOTHING having lived in MetroWest and subsidizing the rest of the state for years.

Deval was a ridiculous choice when he was elected and he's worse now. His first major decision was to buy an 8 cylinder Cadillac, really nice that he's taxing everyone else now.

Does the Mayflower ring a bell? Maybe we should have another Boston Tea Party?

Compared to some of the more ludicrous ideas being floated lately (27 cent gas tax hike, tracking cars mileage by GPS) this one actually doesn't sound all that bad.

This is nothing new. In many European countries, including the UK, the annual car tax is based on on fuel efficiency.

Sure Tax My Hummer, I'LL pay it , we need more bail out money for Mr Obama to give away.
I only drive my Hummer 2 miles to work and back. But please dont tax my Boat, Plane, Lake house or Beach house .... I use them more than the Hummer.

"Buy American and watch us Grow"

Wait a minute......Arnold Schwarzennegar's Hummers can all run on anything like veggie oil etc. So why can't the rest of Hummers convert over to do same????

why would they make us pay more for vehicles that use more gas? we already pay more for gas so why add this bs tax? some of us NEED to have a larger vehicle for work or whatever else it is required for. and also alot of the newer cars that are good on gas are alot more expensive than other cars. i tink adding more taxes to people who are paying more is like having a tax for poor people because they are poor and wealthy people not having a tax because they have alot of money.

What about those of us who drive a jeep. Its a tiny vehicle and on average they get 17 mpg. They don't pump out a lot of emissions but sacrifice fuel for a gain in low end torque. Its a low horse power high torque engine. Mine happens to be 19 years old now and has a carburetor. Should those of us who have old cars either because we like them or because we cant afford a new car be taxed extra? So we can expect to not only be taxes per gallon of fuel and per mile driven but the fuel efficiency of our vehicle. Or is this maybe just going to be for the newer 12mpg personal buses? Soon they'll just make us all to walk. If this were a democracy we could do something but it isnt. Oh well.

We car pool in a Yukon XL. It get's 17mpg. On a per rider basis, we produce less carbon than that lone Prius driver getting 40mpg.

What's up here ? We are Americans.

Obviously we have a God-given right to unlimited quantities of cheap gasoline forever. The fact that we are 5% of the world's population and we use nearly 25% of the gasoline is of no consequence. Anyone who thinks different must be liquidated.

Why dosent the governor try raising the sales tax to 10% instead of penalizing the people who save all their life to to purchase a vehicle. I don't mind paying my fair share , but would like to see all Mass residents pay their fair share Or how about the people using 93 paying their oun way. they have been getting a free ridefor ever. Pu up th toal booths on 93 and stop punishing the rest of us.

I'm moving! Can't take it.

To all you who think merely driving an H2, Escalade, Land Rover, etc qualifies you as magically able to afford, keep in mind those cars cost @ $50K...what does your freakin' Lexus or Toyota Hybrid cost? Some of us bought those cars for Safety first and to support American jobs second. What country am I in anyhow...

Do any of you remember who you voted for? Oh - it was this guy? Like he didn't tell you what he was going to do? Ohhh I see .....

And he wouldn't have a friend in DC, would he.

Time for another Tea Party. However, this time, instead of dumping tea into Boston Harbor, let's just dump "D" into the drink and call it "The Boston 'D' Party."

More social engineering coming your way. The European system taxes the auto owner by cc displacement, but there are still plenty of guzzlers like the Mercedes sedans, Porsches of all types, V-10 Volkswagens, sports cars, etc. It's a symbol of social class - the wealthy can flaunt their disregard of the environment while the rest suffer the consequences. Sales tax (value-added tax) is at 19% and the economy is still in trouble. As for the US, any transportation costs to business will be shouldered by their customers (working single parents, for example). The race card will be played soon enough, that minorities are the most injured by increased cost of living. Tax increases also reduce the tax base: companies relocate or establish where the business costs favor the bottom line; reduced revenues will force higher taxes still in a spiral. There has to be a better answer than this.

Unfortunately, this is just another case where the poor and middle class will be hurt the most, while the people like Al Gore, our Congressmen, and our Senators will continue to drive whatever they want. Sad. We can look at this and see exactly what Obama has planned for the country. Sure, he claims that he has no interest in charging cars by the mile now, but, as we all know with Obama, he'll CHANGE his mind later, when no one is looking, or find a back door way to do the same thing.

The big issue is taxes... Why does gov't need more revenue?
Stop arguing about how the tax is collected... gallon, mile, price, etc...

Money to gov't is like food to a fungus. More food = more fungus.
Starve the gov't to reduce its size.

Tax the fuel if fuel consumption is what your trying to reduce. If I want a Hummer (cough choke vomit!!!) but want to drive it once a week while my neighbor drives his more economical car 24/7 who's the actual waster? I've worked for a company that leases cars and now realize the biggest wasters of fuel, in both size of SUV's and miles driven, are the democrats of the nation. Teachers, union workers, government employ's and intercity folk (next time your in the hood or at parent teacher conference you'll see what I mean). It's always the same, 100K miles in 4 years on the odometer are some gas behemoth.

It won't stop! The proposed gas tax will be adjusted for inflation. You know toll increases are next.

Gov. Patrick is a joke just like the rest of the politicians in this country. These idiots continue to pass legislation that hurt the average hard working individual. I haven't come across any legislation in recent history that has benefited the average hard working individual. How about the mandatory health insurance? Who did that benefit? The insurance companies. You now have to pay for health insurance by law, but the health insurance companies never pay for any of your health costs when you need it.

Oh but it is protecting the hospitals from going bankrupt......maybe we should stop giving free handouts to the non-US citizens here and they won't continue to migrate to this country. If someone was giving away $100's on the street corner every day, you bet I would go there. If they stopped giving $100's, I wouldn't be showing up there anymore.

All of those liberals that ride your bikes and love this new tax, your jobs will be gone and you won't have to ride your little bicycles. The way to get ahead in this state is to stop working hard and collect some sort of welfare among the many state assistance programs.

Electric Hybrid cars are not the answer. Nickel Cadnium and Nickel Metal Hydride batteries are highly toxic to the environment. 40 times more toxic to the environment than big SUV's burning fuel.

I travel 2000 miles to work each 2 weeks. I purchased a vehicle that saves me 40 gallons round trip. I am doing my part and it seems to me you are refusing to do yours. I am all for the proposal. I submitted a similar plan to my Congressman just recently here in Tennessee.

Oh! WHAT A GREAT IDEA! NOT! so let me get this straight, I should squeeze my 4 children and their friends into a mini plug in car - they can sit on each other's laps - screw the seatbelt law right? And I'll just run right out and sell our camper so that we can get rid of my husband's truck (because a mini plug in car wouldn't pull a camper) - WHY should we go camping? - who deserves a vacation? - not us hardworking saps who plug away day in and day out and try to save some money so we can spend a little time in the summer enjoying our kids on vacation! I can't afford to sell my "bought used" vehicle or my husband's truck to go and buy a plug in car. What country are we living in?????

And How LONG have we been trying to get a commuter train down to the southcoast ???? Perhaps that 's why we never got it. The government doesn't want to lose tax money on gas. What about the bailout money that us tax payers are on the hook for since it is borrowed money from China? THAT was supposed to pay for the roads, remember. Now we have to pay the borrowed money back with interest AND get taxed to pay for roads again. I agree with an earlier comment " What if you cannot afford to replace your large car or van?" Most poorer folks don't drive hybrids because they can't afford them! TIME FOR A TEA PARY !!!!

So we buy fuel efficient cars, trying to do out part to help the environment, yet we are going to be taxed per mile we drive?
This is a total invasion of privacy.
We are going to be tracked by the government everywhere we go.
The tax issue is getting totally out of hand we must do something.

And when every one has cars that do not guzzle gas what will they look to tax next?

Liberals hate full size, powerful, comfortable, American cars since they really hate America.

duval and his idiot transportation director are power hungry morons! they are now spending 1.8 million to replace mile marker signs on the hiways......this is a governmental tyrants going out of their way with daily taxation threats for this type of bullshit? he is a political pirate, a lowlife theif. a soft spoken power junkey who is stabbing us in the back..