Simply put, Question 1 on the Nov. 4 ballot is about taking responsibility for the safety and effectiveness of our transportation infrastructure.

Almost all our taxes are assessed as a percentage. For example, the sales tax in Massachusetts is currently at 6.25 percent. This means that if the price of goods go up, the sales tax automatically collects more revenues as well.

But the gasoline tax, which pays for road and bridge maintenance, is set as a fixed dollar amount by the legislature, currently at 24 cents per gallon. This means that even though the cost of gasoline and the cost of road repair go up, the revenues collected to fix our roads stay behind.

This time, the legislature put in a fix for that, namely to tie the gas tax to the consumer price index so that in future years the tax will automatically increase along with the price of goods. This would simply make the gas tax behave more like other taxes.

Those who want to keep our Massachusetts roads and bridges safe for moving people and goods will vote no on Question 1, thus leaving this provision in place.

More information can be found here.

Quinton Y. Zondervan, Cardinal Medeiros Avenue