Most Are Clueless About Gas Tax [PHIL-OSOPHY]

I've been mentioning the T.C.I., which stands for Transportation Climate Initiative, regularly on The Phil Paleologos Show. What's TCI? Most of the residents polled are oblivious or know very little about it.

You can say TCI is synonymous with TAX, as in a gas tax. The bureaucrats are touting it as a "carbon fee" on gasoline in 12 northeastern and mid-Atlantic states. The TCI could bypass the democratic process by implementing a tax increase without having the legislature vote on it.

If you recall, we rejected an automatic gas tax increase at the ballot box in 2014, when the activists outspent the everyday taxpayers 30-1, but we still won, 53 percent to 47 percent. So now, like taxation without representation, the advocates want to push this through and we'll pay the price at the pump. But equally troubling is, according to a new poll, two-thirds of voters in major northeastern states know little or nothing about the Transportation Climate Initiative.

Bruce Mohl in Commonwealth magazine writes about a poll conducted by the MassINC Polling Group and paid for by the Barr Foundation, attempting to asses support for this yet to be released initiative. The poll shows 66 percent of those surveyed in seven states were at a complete loss about what amounts to as an increase in the gas tax. In mid-November, the same polling group found 43 percent favored a 15-cent hike in the gas tax while 52 percent opposed it.

The gas tax lovers want to start a public conversation around transportation costs and climate change and how they're going to pay for it. Don't be left out of the discussion. I suggest you go to Mass Fiscal Alliance and familiarize yourself with what's going on.

Phil Paleologos is the host of The Phil Paleologos Show on 1420 WBSM. He can be heard weekdays from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. Contact him at phil@wbsm.com and follow him on Twitter @PhilPaleologos. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.