Here’s what Democrats do not want you to know: every time the price of gas goes up, it’s “good news” for the state treasury because of the Petroleum Gross Receipts Tax, which adds a 7% tax to the cost of gasoline in Connecticut.
So today, Representative Cafero and I wrote to every member of the legislature and asked them to sign a petition calling for a Special Session to cut and cap the Gross Receipts Tax, and require that such tax reduction be passed on to consumers.
We only need 6 more signatures in the Senate and a simple majority in the House to cut and cap the gas tax.
Connecticut motorists pay more than 50 cents/gallon in state gas taxes (more than half of which comes from the Gross Receipts Tax at today’s prices). That amounts to more than $7.50 every time you fill-up a 15-gallon fuel tank.
The Gross Receipts Tax was increased to pay for major transportation projects, but due to record gas prices, the state is taking in approximately $200 million in windfall revenues beyond what is needed for transportation. Today, nearly 60% of the revenue from this tax is being used to feed a bloated and growing state bureaucracy.
You can visit our home page to see if your senator has signed the petition to cut and cap the gas tax. If they haven’t, please contact them today and tell them that you don’t think Connecticut should have the highest gas tax in the region.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
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It doesn’t take rocket scientists to fix this just a bit of creativity and some willingness to look at change.
Gasoline and fuel are now too volatile of a commodity to be taxed fairly at the pump or at gross receipts level.
First, we need to help the citizens of this state deal with the current energy price crisis. And while we can’t make our federal government actually get any work done, we can effect change at the state level. Eliminate the CT fuel tax. The revenue will be made up for in the 2 steps below.
Second, we need to align our tax structure for the future. There is going to be a large shift in vehicle MPG and then into Electric or Hydrogen. Tax for road use and repair should be an additional line item on your vehicle’s personal property tax bill. this will make sure that now and in the future all vehicles including hybrids, hydrogen, gasoline and electric vehicles are all taxed fairly and equally when it comes to taxes on our roads and highways. If we wait until fuel prices realign, there will be a large drop in revenue as our demand for gas has dropped and will continue to drop.
Third, build Solar/geothermal powered toll booths at the entrances to our state. All inbound traffic from 84, 95, 91, 395 stop only once. Each vehicle entering pays .50 per axle to enter our state. this applys a road use fee to all vehicles fairly including pass through traffic and generates a couple hundred million a year. Where else are these cars going to travel? If they need to get North, we’d still be cheaper than the Mass Pike.
We can’t control the federal government, but we do control our state. Lets make the right moves now. this 3 step plan is simple, makes sense, and most importantly makes the revenue needed to more than offset the current revenue generated from the current tax structure
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