Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey proposed Tuesday that lawmakers suspend the state’s 24-cent-per-gallon gasoline tax for two months, offering temporary relief as fuel costs remain sharply above last year’s levels.
The plan is not yet law. Healey intends to place the eight-week suspension in a forthcoming closeout supplemental budget, which would need approval from the Legislature. Her office estimates the pause would reduce state revenue by about $120 million and says surplus revenue from the state’s high-income surtax would cover the gap. The proposal would also require fuel retailers to pass the tax savings to customers and protect stations from losses on fuel bought before the suspension.
The timing reflects a rapid rise in household transportation costs. AAA’s price tracker put Massachusetts regular gasoline at $4.4036 a gallon on Sept. 22, compared with $3.1069 a year earlier. Diesel averaged $6.3901, up from $3.8487. Regular gas was roughly 35 cents more expensive than one month earlier, while diesel had risen by about 82 cents.
If the full 24-cent reduction reached the pump, a 12-gallon purchase would cost $2.88 less and a 15-gallon fill-up would save $3.60. Those figures are simple illustrations rather than guaranteed savings: retail prices can still move with wholesale fuel costs, supply conditions and competition during the proposed tax holiday.
Massachusetts law currently requires distributors and importers to pay a per-gallon excise on fuel sold or brought into the Commonwealth. A temporary suspension therefore depends on legislation, not executive action alone. The central budget question is whether lawmakers accept Healey’s plan to replace the foregone fuel-tax revenue with one-time surtax proceeds while preserving transportation commitments.
The proposal has already opened a political dispute. Republican gubernatorial candidate Mike Minogue called for his own gas-tax relief plan last week and criticized Healey’s version as election-season policy. House Speaker Ron Mariano had earlier described a suspension as fiscally irresponsible because the duration of the international supply disruption is uncertain. Senate President Karen Spilka said she was open to reviewing the governor’s proposal.
That legislative split makes the closeout budget the next consequential step. Lawmakers will have to decide both whether an eight-week pause is an appropriate response to volatile prices and whether the enforcement language is strong enough to ensure motorists, rather than intermediaries, receive the intended benefit. Until a bill is filed and enacted, drivers should expect the existing tax and current pump prices to remain in place.
