The Transportation and Climate Initiative (TCI) is another “wonderful” idea promoted by our governor and the East Side (Providence) think tank in an attempt to extract even more money from Rhode Islanders. The mission is to save the planet by charging more for gasoline.

The TCI will hurt Rhode Island and Rhode Islanders in the following ways:

1. It will drive another nail in the coffin of business in the Ocean State. We pay the highest energy rates and have the worst business climate in the nation. The TCI will injure an already fragile state economy.

2. Rhode Islanders don’t need another tax. Hard-working residents, some “just getting by,” need no additional drain on personal incomes. Especially hard-hit will be individuals who need to commute by auto to jobs that may be a substantial distance away from home. Please skip the malarkey about enhanced public transportation being the answer to this problem.

3. The enactment of the TCI will only fuel the exodus of people and jobs. (For example, two of my friends have fled in recent months to more tax and business friendly states.)

Take a cue from New Hampshire and reject the ill-conceived TCI. Contact your state reps and senators and tell them to vote against the passage of the TCI.

Bob King
Middletown