Drivers are feeling the pain at the pump, and many say they’re desperate for some relief.
One driver, Adam Tocci, said his wife texted him after filling up.
“And my wife texted me the price that she paid today too and it was jaw-dropping, really,” Tocci said.
For drivers with bigger vehicles, the cost can add up quickly.
“We have a motor home that gets 9 miles a gallon so that one’s a little tough 50 gallons at one time,” driver John Matos said.
Others say cutting back on driving isn’t much of an option.
“I drive a lot because I mean my kids go to different schools different districts so its a lot on top of work,” one driver told us.
She also said it costs about $60 to fill her small SUV now.
Governor Maura Healey has been pushing for a temporary gas tax holiday that would save drivers 24 cents per gallon. But the two-month proposal was left out of the House Ways and Means Committee’s version of a spending bill.
Healey told Boston 25 News she thinks lawmakers made the wrong call.
“I think it’s the wrong decision and I am going to continue to push the legislature to do this now look we wouldn’t be in this position to begin with if Donald Trump didn’t have us at war, that’s what caused everything to go up and the price as the pump but you know I’m looking for every which way to lower people’s costs,” Healey said.
House leaders have argued that suspending the tax could undercut transportation funding. They’ve also questioned whether drivers would actually see the full savings at the pump.
Not every driver is convinced that Healey’s proposal is the answer.
“I think it’s a little too late, I think its political maneuvering to me I don’t believe anything really that she says,” Matos said.
Republican candidate for governor, Mike Minogue, is also criticizing Healey’s proposal, calling it a political stunt from the beginning.
“She had the opportunity to get rid of the gas tax which she did not do as she also said there’s only so much a governor can do well then push back on the legislature,” Minogue said.
Minogue said his own approach would focus on waste and fraud and tie gas tax relief to higher prices at the pump.
“I would have identified right away waste and fraud, and we have lots of waste and fraud. The second thing is my proposal said start with above 4 dollars when it gets there so you can build that in,” Minogue said.
For drivers, though, the politics may matter less than what they’re paying every time they pull into a gas station.
“I’d like to see some type of negotiation with this gas tax 25 cents a gallon is too high and idk where we stand compared to other states, but it just seems a little excessive to me,” Tocci said.
Some of the drivers we spoke with said high gas prices will definitely be something they consider when they vote.
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