Tank the Automatic Gas Tax Hikes Thanks Shawn Craig

26,000 SIGNATURES COLLECTED

Boston, MA…Today organizers for the ballot initiative to tank the automatic gas tax hikes thanked Shawn Craig for being a leader in collecting the signatures to get the question on the ballot.

“Shawn has played an integral role in collecting signatures to get our initiative on the ballot for next November.  Shawn understands that the legislature needs to vote to raise taxes.  They should not abdicate their responsibilities,” said Steve Aylward, Republican State Committeeman and lead sponsor of the initiative.

Last summer the legislature linked the gas tax to the Consumer Price Index (CPI).  It means the gas tax will increase every year without a vote of the legislature.  They put a floor on the bill so that it can only increase.

Last fall volunteers collected 120,000 raw signatures to get the repeal effort on the ballot.  The legislature had until the beginning of May to approve the initiative, but they failed to do so.  Due to the lack of action by the legislature, another 11,400 signatures were required.  None of the people who signed previously could sign again.  The ballot group announced today that they collected 26,000 signatures to finally get the repeal of the gas tax to inflation on the ballot.

"The message is simple. The people of Massachusetts want our elected officials to take a vote,” said Craig.

“Taxation without representation will not stand. Thanks to Shawn Craig we have a strong grassroots team and we are going to repeal the forever tax,” said State Representative Geoff Diehl.

“The legislature should have flipped flopped on this issue when they had the chance.  They listened to big business, but they ignored the average taxpayer who was also hurt by their recent tax package. The automatic gas tax hurts the middle class and the working poor the most” said Marty Lamb, who is a sponsor of the ballot initiative.  “We are going to hold Beacon Hill accountable.”

The attorney for the group is former U.S. Attorney Mike Sullivan.

For more information visit Tankthegastax.org.