
The Status of New Tolls on Massachusetts Highways
Massachusetts drivers may have dodged a bullet for now as the 31-member task force appointed by Gov. Maura Healey last year to suggest new, long-term funding sources for transportation projects has punted it.
You may recall Transportation Secretary Monica Tibbits-Nutt ignited a firestorm last spring by suggesting the task force was considering implementing highway tolls at state borders.
Boston Public Broadcasting Station WGBH reported the remarks prompted a quick behind-closed-doors meeting with Gov. Healey, who emerged to say, "To be clear, I am not proposing tools at any border. I have spoken to the Secretary and made that clear."

WGBH.org says Tibbits-Nutt "listed several options to raise funds, including increased fees for Uber and Lyft rides, bigger excise taxes for large pickup trucks, Amazon deliveries, and tolls."
In its final report, the Transportation Funding Task Force recommended no new revenue sources and suggested a greater reliance on revenues generated by the so-called millionaires tax and existing revenue sources.
In response, Healey has proposed using $700 million in millionaire tax revenue to "stabilize" the MBTA and borrow another $8 billion over ten years for needed transportation projects.
The idea of new highway tools is not dead since Massachusetts Senate President Karen Spilka continues to advocate for the idea.
Spilka told reporters last year, "If tolls are such a great idea for the turnpike, we should look at them for other areas of the state. I have filed, in the past, bills to put tolls at the borders."
"I believe that the toll system right now is not fair at all," Spilka said.
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