On Wednesday, expect to start paying more at the pump.
The gas tax will go up 3 cents a gallon. House Ways and Means Chairman Steven Brewer says on average, drivers will spend about 30 dollars more per year on gas. At a Springfield Chamber of Commerce event, Brewer said it added up to a Guinness and a couple of bags of chicken wings.
The price of cigarettes is also going up on Wednesday. Smokers will pay $1 more per pack. According to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, right now the average price of cigarettes in Massachusetts is around $8 a pack, making it one of the most expensive places in the country to buy cigarettes. There will also be a 33.3 percent tax increase for cigars and smoking tobacco.
Overall, these are the first major tax increases since lawmakers and Gov. Deval Patrick raised the state sales tax in 2009.
Then in three months, the state plans to restore tolls for passenger vehicles between Exits 1 through 6 on the Western end of the Massachusetts Turnpike. That section of the turnpike has been free since 1996.
