Former Massachusetts Senate President Thomas Birmingham.

These comments were made recently in discussions about the Massachusetts state budget and potential new revenue sources.

This mindset is exactly why our transportation infrastructure is falling apart, and why states have to subsidize roads increasingly with general revenues, and not just the gas tax. If you use it, you should pay for it. It’s been almost 20 years since Massachusetts raised it’s gas tax and the Federal gas tax hasn’t been raised since 1997.