H.4912, An Act Creating a 2050 Roadmap to a Clean and Thriving Commonwealth — The Facts
Some organizations, funded by the fossil fuel industry and other “dark” money, are falsely claiming that H.4912 (the House version of S.2500), is a bill written solely to increase the gas tax. This is simply not true. H.4912 is a robust piece of legislation that takes bold steps to tackle climate change and protect our planet now and far into the future.
What is TCI anyway?
In 2008, the legislature passed the Global Warming Solutions Act (GWSA). The GWSA gave the Governor the discretion to utilize market-based compliance mechanisms to meet our greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals without further legislative approval. The bill passed last week leaves that power intact, allowing the Governor to enter into an agreement such as the Transportation and Climate Initiative (TCI). TCI is a type of market-based compliance mechanism that puts a price on carbon pollution in the transportation sector, which makes up over 40% of greenhouse gas emissions. Governor Baker, along with many Republicans in the legislature, support this initiative and support H.4912 because they know it is not a gas tax increase. Common sense tells us that these corporations will almost always aim to keep their prices as low as possible in order to remain viable in the market against their competition.
Is TCI a gas tax increase?
The claim that TCI is a gas tax increase, and therefore so is this legislation, is just plain wrong. To be clear, a tax places the burden on the consumer at the retail level, at the pump for example. TCI places a price on carbon pollution at the wholesale level, making major multinational corporations pay for the effects their carbon pollution has on the environment. This includes damage caused by extreme weather events and the cost to implement measures to prevent further damage. The impact of climate change on our health costs billions of dollars in healthcare annually. Emissions have led to increased rates of asthma, heart disease, cancer, and other health complications, often disproportionately impacting our low-income communities and communities of color.
On March 4th, months before I took office, the House of Representatives voted to increase the gas tax as part of a transportation revenue package that was not taken up by the Senate. I remain in opposition to an increase in the gas tax. It is regressive and harms those who can least afford it, especially during this ongoing pandemic. Again, TCI is not a gas tax. It is a mechanism to ensure that polluters pay the price of climate change, not us. The legislature has taken a historic step forward to combat climate change by putting the Commonwealth on a path to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. Characterizing this bill as a gas tax increase distracts us from the fact that as a society we are prioritizing the health and safety of future generations by taking these bold actions now.
