AUGUSTA – Standing near the Capitol Mini Mart pumps where regular gas was selling for $3.31 a gallon on Tuesday, state Republicans called on Gov. John Baldacci and Democrats to temporarily suspend the state’s gas tax of 25.9 cents per gallon. High gas prices have put Maine in a crisis, they said.
If the tax were suspended for 60 days, as Republicans propose, gas sold at the Capitol Mini Mart would go from $3.31 to $3.05, providing immediate relief, said Rep. Scott Lansley, R-Sabattus. He had filled his SUV on Tuesday. “It has a 30-gallon tank. It cost me $93 for a tank of gas. We have to fill it up twice a week.”
People want action, Lansley said. “People in my district are saying, ‘What are you going to do? Give me relief now!'”
Sen. Lois Snowe-Mello, R-Poland said she received three phone calls Tuesday morning about gas prices. “People are outraged.”
But the tax-suspending idea was not met with enthusiasm.
The Baldacci administration and Democrats said they’d consider it and other Republican ideas, but pointed out that help to consumers would be short-lived. Meanwhile, the action would cost the state $40 million, they said. That would mean Maine state troopers would be laid off, highway safety patrol cut, and bridge and highway maintenance or other programs would suffer, said Sen. Peggy Rotundo, D-Lewiston, co-chair of the Appropriations Committee.
During the convenience store press conference, Republicans said they’d like to see Baldacci call legislators into a special session as soon as next week to respond to gas price complaints.
Gas prices that have climbed 70 cents a gallon or more in the last week “have brought considerable hardship and fear among people in Maine,” said Senate Minority Leader Paul Davis, R-Sangerville. From the young to the old, “Maine people are crying out. They need help. … Relief must come.”
If the gas tax disappeared for 60 days, “it would erase the chill that has gone across our business community, especially our tourism industry,” Davis said. Most Mainers can’t afford to do what the governor did last week: park or sell an SUV and start driving a fuel-efficient vehicle. “Gov. Baldacci, Maine people are crying out to you,” Davis said.
House Assistant Minority Leader Joshua Tardy, R-Newport, said Republicans don’t want to cut highway patrol or road maintenance, how the gas tax money is spent. Instead, they want state government cut, starting with health care.
The low-hanging fruit is curtailing Dirigo health expansion, which Republicans proposed last session. “This is a crisis that we’re in,” Tardy said.
Speaking for Baldacci, Director of the Office of Energy Independence and Security Beth Nagusky said the governor appreciates Republicans’ ideas, but what needs to be examined is the root of high prices. It’s a federal problem that needs a federal solution, she said.
“The governor has joined with other governors calling on the president to act about the outrageous, excessive profits the major oil companies have made in the last six quarters,” Nagusky said.
For instance, Exxon made $25 billion last year. Other companies, including three that have merged, made $70 billion in profits last year alone, Nagusky said.
The mega mergers, combined with large profits, raise questions about how competitive the industry is, Nagusky said. Suspending Maine’s tax would provide only short-term savings, while oil companies could continue to make record profits, she said.
The governor is concerned about the problems gas prices are causing. But he’s more worried about high heating costs around the corner, Nagusky said. Gas prices are a hardship, but heating oil “is life and death.”
How GOP wants to respond to high gas prices
• Suspend Maine’s 25.9-cent gas tax for 60 days
• Repeal tax on heating oil used by businesses
• Repeal automatic indexing of gasoline tax
• Reduce most administrative state-vehicle travel by 15 percent
• Order a temporary change allowing state workers to work four 10-hour days instead of five 8-hour days
• Look into using lower-grade diesel for agriculture
• Expand state efforts to allow car pooling by everyone in Maine
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