The Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance responded Tuesday to Governor Maura Healey’s announcement that she will file legislation temporarily suspending Massachusetts’ 24-cent-per-gallon gas tax for two months as gasoline prices rise. Healey attributed the recent increase at the pump to the war with Iran and federal energy policy.

“Governor Healey is right about one thing: Massachusetts families need relief from high energy costs. Suspending the gas tax recognizes that government-imposed costs matter when families are struggling to afford energy, but that same principle should apply to the multiple costly climate and energy mandates imposed by Beacon Hill,” said Paul Diego Craney, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance.

Massachusetts families and businesses already face some of the highest energy costs in the country. Yet state government continues to pursue energy and climate mandates that add costs for ratepayers, even as affordability has become an increasingly serious concern across the Commonwealth.

At the same time, the Healey administration continues pursuing its broader Net Zero agenda, which calls for major changes to how Massachusetts generates electricity, heats homes, powers transportation, and uses fossil fuels. The administration has still not publicly released the comprehensive economic analysis of the investment needed to meet the Commonwealth’s 2050 climate mandates that former Climate Chief Melissa Hoffer identified as a priority.

“A two-month gas tax holiday is temporary relief that’s clearly an election ploy, insulting the intelligence of Massachusetts voters. The big picture costs of Massachusetts’ energy mandates appears on utility bills month after month and year after year,” said Craney. “If Governor Healey believes Massachusetts families cannot afford another 24 cents at the pump today, she should be willing to take the same hard look at every state mandate driving up the cost of keeping the lights on and heating our homes.”

“Massachusetts does not need two months of energy affordability. It needs an energy policy built around affordability every month of the year,” concluded Craney.