16,000 Sign Gas Tax Petition. GOP Appeals to Gov to Stop Tax Hike

Hartford, CT – More than 16,000 people have signed a petition to stop increases to Connecticut’s petroleum gross receipts and diesel fuel taxes scheduled to take effect on Monday. Today, Senate Republican Leader John McKinney (R-Fairfield) and House Republican Leader Lawrence F. Cafero, Jr. (R-Norwalk) delivered a letter to Governor Dannel P. Malloy urging him to call a special legislative session to repeal the tax hike. Please find copies of the letter below and attached.

June 28, 2013

The Honorable Dannel P. Malloy
Governor, State of Connecticut
Executive Chambers
State Capitol
Hartford, CT 06106

Dear Governor Malloy:

As you are aware, Republican legislators have been gathering signatures for a petition to stop increases in the state’s petroleum gross receipts and diesel fuel taxes scheduled for July 1. The petition can be viewed at www.AxeTheGasTaxCT.com.

On Monday, Republican legislators held a petition drive at about a dozen gas stations throughout Connecticut. The overwhelming majority of motorists filling up at gas stations where Republican legislators were present signed the petition and voiced disappointment and disgust with the fact that the state was increasing the tax on gasoline in these challenging economic times.

People are concerned not only with the increase they will face at the pump, but also with the impact the new taxes will have on the costs of other goods and services purchased in Connecticut. The disappointment people expressed over the tax increase turned to disgust upon learning that the revenue generated from the new tax is not being used to improve Connecticut’s transportation infrastructure.

To date, more than 16,000 Connecticut residents have signed the petition, with more than 14,000 signing in just the past week.

In 2005, when the legislature passed a bill to increase the gross receipts tax over a period of several years, we did so with the understanding that that revenue would be dedicated to the Special Transportation Fund (STF) and used to pay for major transportation initiatives, including necessary road and bridge repairs and the purchase of new Metro-North rail cars.

But, that has not been the case. In the ensuing years, state government has broken its promise to taxpayers and raided the STF on multiple occasions. In fact, your first two-year budget swept more than $70 million out of the STF and the most recent budget you signed into law sweeps another $90 million over the next two years.

Republicans have been fighting for years to cut and cap the gross receipts tax. In 2012 we were successful in placing a cap on it, to prevent further tax increases when the wholesale price of gasoline reaches $3/gallon. In 2008, Republicans and Democrats came together to postpone a scheduled increase in the tax citing the rising price of fuel and weak economic conditions.

Governor, the price of fuel is still high and our economy is still recovering. On behalf of the more than 16,000 Connecticut residents who signed our petition – and the hundreds-of-thousands more who would have signed if given the opportunity – please call the legislature into special session and help us stop this tax hike.

As leaders of the Republican caucuses in the House and Senate, we stand ready to work in a bipartisan way to make spending reductions elsewhere in next year’s $21 billion state budget to account for the $68 million this tax hike would generate.

Sincerely,

John McKinney Lawrence F. Cafero, Jr.
Senate Republican Leader House Republican Leader