MCSPC Cited in Bangor Daily News

Two ATVs drive down a wooded path to represent the Bangor Daily News article on gas taxes.

January 25, 2024 General News

Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center was cited in “ATVers seek a bigger piece of the gas tax” from the Bangor Daily News. Center director Jonathan Rubin presented at LD 977’s work session, “Resolve to Study the Gasoline Tax Allocations for Nonhighway Recreational Vehicles and Make Recommendations for Changes.”

A similar study was done in 2001 by the University of Maine Margaret Chase Smith Center for Public Policy for a Legislature commission charged with figuring out what an equitable distribution of gas tax revenues would be to support off-road vehicle use.

The current distribution of those funds is based on the 2001 study, but the number of ATV users has doubled since then, and there are more four-stroke snowmobiles on the trails than 20 years ago, MDIF&W Deputy Commissioner Tim Peabody testified last April before the committee.

Julie Harris, Bangor Daily News