Massachusetts Gas Prices Down for an 18th Week

A fifth week of double-digit drops has some arguing a needed federal gas tax hike may now be possible.

For the 18th week in a row, AAA Northeast reported Monday that gas prices have fallen in Massachusetts – this time by 11 cents, to $2.259 a gallon on average, the fifth week of double-digit decreases in a row.

At the Costco store in Dedham, the gas station business was booming, because it’s one of a handful of Bay State gas stations where the price has dipped below the psychologically transformational $2 mark.

"I got here and texted my husband, '$1.99. You can’t beat that,'" said Aamina Chowdry of Westwood. "It's amazing."

Chowdry's a perfect example of why economists are comparing the steady plunge in gasoline prices to a $100 billion national tax cut.

"How much does it help? It's amazing. We just bought a house. This is phenomenal. We are even thinking of getting a bigger SUV. We can afford it now," she said.

AAA's separate Daily Fuel Gauge Report showed the following range of average prices across the New England states Monday: $2.27 a gallon in Maine, $2.24 in New Hampshire, $2.56 in Vermont, $2.32 in Massachusetts, $2.31 in Rhode Island, and $2.48 in Connecticut – all, of course, well over the national average of $2.13.

Mary Maguire of AAA Northeast noted that within Massachusetts alone, there was an 84-cent spread between the least expensive and most expensive gasoline on the market. It underlines how important it is for consumers to know when they’re looking at a good or great price for gas, and take advantage of it.

"Knowledge is power at the pump, so what you need to know is the low end of the range of prices on any given week, so that you can shop for the low end," Maguire said.

The plunging prices also have some leaders in Washington, even some Republicans, saying it could now be politically possible to raise the federal gasoline tax, which hasn't been adjusted for inflation since 1993. South Dakota Sen. John Thune, the third-ranking Senate Republican leader, and Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Oklahoma), who heads the transportation committee, have both said they think a gas tax increase "is not off the table."

The gas tax is the main source of funding for highway, bridge, and transit repairs and upgrades, but the main trust fund used for those projects has been skating on the edge of insolvency because actual tax revenues aren't keeping up with infrastructure spending demands.

"Nobody likes to pay more taxes, but we all need good roads, we all need safe transportation, so this is the time to raise the gas tax," said Kristina Egan of Transportation for Massachusetts www.t4ma.org, a pro-transit activist group in Boston. "We just don't have enough to be able to maintain our bridges and our roads, and we have many structurally deficient bridges that are closed. We have public transportation systems that can't operate reliably, and that's because we don't have enough revenue in the system."

It's not an easy sell politically by any means, and just two months ago, Massachusetts voters repealed a measure indexing the state gasoline tax to inflation, which backers say will cut $1 billion in transportation revenue over the next 10 years. But at least some advocates are saying with gas prices plunging and no clear bottoming-out in sight, they can now try to make a case a gas tax increase they call long overdue and sorely needed is something motorists can afford to live with.

With videographer Bob Ricci

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