The taxpayers of Massachusetts are the banks and this state keeps withdrawing money from us habitually.

For the last month, I've been getting the word to you about the Transportation Climate Initiative, or TCI, that comes down to a gas tax. But while this has been happening, lawmakers quietly have been working on putting together their own transportation tax package which they released this week.

Cutting to the chase, this will be another blow to the hard-working taxpayer with a 20 percent or five-cent-per-gallon increase to the gasoline tax. It will mean a 38 percent or nine-cent-per-gallon increase to the diesel fuel tax, and it means a 500 percent waxing on rideshare tax assessed on services like Uber and Lyft.

Lawmakers will be hitting up everyday working people for an additional $600 million each and every year. They claim that new taxes are needed to "fix" our roads and bridges, but the truth is that nearly half of the money collected by the gas tax is diverted to fund the MBTA and its unmanageable pension system.

Speaker Robert DeLeo plans to vote on this bill sometime next week when all the attention will be on the presidential primary election. Please take a moment and contact your legislator and let them know how this increase will relate to your own personal finances, and tell them to give us a break.

Phil Paleologos is the host of The Phil Paleologos Show on 1420 WBSM New Bedford. 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.

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