The Bay State’s governor is pumping the brakes on a proposal offered by her Transportation Secretary to help alleviate the commonwealth’s revenue shortfalls by installing tolls along the state’s borders, following days of backlash that rose Monday to calls for her to fire the cabinet level official.
Secretary of Transportation Monica Tibbits-Nutt’s “unfiltered” comments at a WalkMassachusetts event last week regarding a theoretical plan to take tolls from drivers crossing the state’s borders and charge higher excise taxes to pick-up truck owners do not represent the views of the Gov. Maura Healey or her administration, the governor said in a Monday statement of support for her transportation chief.
“To be clear, I am not proposing tolls at any border. I have spoken to the Secretary and made that clear, and that I have confidence in her leadership moving forward in this important time as we work to ensure a strong and robust state transportation system,” she said.
According to the governor, her “top priority” is making the state more affordable and therefore more competitive when people are choosing where to live, not making it harder for people to pick the Bay State over lower-tax jurisdictions.
“It is why we were proud to partner with the Legislature to pass a billion dollars in tax cuts. The Healey-Driscoll administration is committed to collaborating with the Legislature and all stakeholders to make Massachusetts a more affordable, competitive place,” she said.
The MassGOP followed Healey’s statement with one of their own, openly wondering who Tibbits-Nutt is referring to when discussing jacked up excise taxes on pick-ups and SUVs before the Governor’s Transportation Funding Task Force .
“Who exactly is this ‘type of person’ Secretary Tibbits-Nutt is addressing? Is it a parent with four children or someone who relies on a truck for work?” MassGOP Chair Amy Carnevale asked.
Tibbits-Nutt also mentioned the potential addition of state level fees for transportation network company services, like Uber and Lyft, upping the cost of package deliveries, tackling speeding on local roads, and charging more for the state payroll tax. Those aren’t the sort of proposals which will help prevent people from leaving the state, the Republican chairwoman said.
“The Secretary’s policy initiatives are the antithesis of what’s needed in Massachusetts. A poll came out last week that showed our workforce is leaving the state in droves due to Massachusetts’ unaffordability. Adding more taxes, more tolls, and more penalties for ordinary Massachusetts residents is only going to make Massachusetts less affordable, and add to the mass migration the Commonwealth has been experiencing,” Carnevale said.
The conservative Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance went further, calling on Healey to fire the cabinet official she elevated from an acting position just last October. Tibbits-Nutt had previously served as an Undersecretary for Transportation, but took over the Department of Transportation after the departure of former Transportation Secretary Gina Fiandaca.
“Government should never be used as a weapon against the people. People that view taxation and our government as a weapon to be used against individuals they don’t like are a critical danger to our democracy and people rightly lose confidence in any public official who thinks that way. Governor Maura Healey needs to step up and remove Secretary Tibbits-Nutt from her position before she does real damage to the state,” spokesman Paul Craney said.
State Rep. Marcus Vaughn, a member of the House Ways and Means committee, urged the Healey administration to be more careful with their proposals and consider the people they are affecting.
“We need to support the residents and businesses of the Commonwealth, not make it more difficult to remain in this State,” he said in a statement. “I implore the Secretary to work with the constituents, give them a voice in this process, and gain a firm understanding of the concerns individuals and families have about the increased cost of living.”
Senate President Karen Spilka said that her constituents in Metro-West have been paying tolls for years, despite seeing relatively little benefit from the projects they fund. Expanding tolls, she said, might make the situation a little more fair.
“I believe that — and I’ve said this publicly — if tolls are such a great idea for the Turnpike, we should look at them for funding for other areas of the state. I have filed, in the past, bills to put tolls at the border. So I do believe that we need to be creative about our funding. And I do believe that it needs to be fair, because I believe the tolls system right now is not fair at all,” she said.
Asked if Tibbits-Nutt would like to add to Governor Healey’s statement, a Department of Transportation spokesperson said that her assertions last week were just part of an on-going conversation about the challenges facing the state and not necessarily representative of policy proposals.
“At a recent event the Secretary was conveying that we need to have difficult conversations about how to make our transportation system work best for everyone. This task force is in its early stages and no decisions have been made about its potential recommendations. Any proposals would be made in collaboration with the Legislature and other stakeholders and would carefully consider any affordability and competitiveness implications,” the spokesperson said.
