Senator Scott Brown (R-MA) -- in an effort to save Massachusetts residents from an impending gasoline tax hike -- admonished Governor Deval Patrick (MA-D) and urged him to follow the example of federal lawmakers in Congress: The Boston Herald Reports:
“I believe the answer at the state level has to be the same as the federal response: cut spending, don’t raise taxes,” Brown writes to Gov. Deval Patrick.“Massachusetts motorists already pay a higher gas tax than the national average, and with budgets stretched to meet the rising cost of food and other expenses, a further increase in the price of gas would cause real hardship for families,” Brown adds, according to a copy of his letter obtained by the Herald this morning.
Lt. Gov. Tim Murray hinted that a gas tax hike could be back in play, telling his hometown paper last month the administration is considering several options to pay for road and bridge maintenance, including gas tax, toll and fare increases.
Scott Brown, who is the lone Republican in Congress from the Bay State, seems to be the only public servant representing his worried constituents at home. This might be, as Guy Benson pointed out last spring, why his approval ratings are soaring and his reelection in 2012 is becoming increasingly more probable.
But these looming tax hikes, which could go in effect later this year, pose an important question: Why do Democrats, especially in Massachusetts, see tax increases as the only solution to our economic problems?
It's reprehensible, and enormously unpopular, to balance the state budget by raising taxes on the backs of hardworking Americans – especially when the governor is all too eager to dole out higher salaries to his bureaucratic buddies.
Last May, for example, Cadillac Deval gave raises to seventeen government employees at the Department of Transportation. These salary increases ignited a wave of controversy and came at a time when most working residents were hurting from the lingering effects of the Great Recession.
Governor Patrick, however, did offer a justification for his blatant act of favoritism. But I suspect most engaged citizens, after watching the video below, will find his response unsatisfactory.
But that's for you to decide.
Watch his response at My Fox Boston