(Watch the News 8 Video) Sen. Linares Discusses His Petition to Stop the Gas Tax Hike

Tax hike set for gasoline
Published : Thursday, 16 May 2013, 6:19 PM EDT

Mark Davis

HARTFORD, Conn. (WTNH)– If you think there will be no tax hikes in Connecticut this year, think again.

One of the two taxes you pay on gasoline is set for a big hike in just 45 days.

Every time you gas up, you pay two state taxes, the 25 cents a gallon gasoline tax, and the 7% gross receipts tax.

That’s a tax on the wholesale price of gas.

On Thursday, that’s about 21 cents for a grand total of 46 cents.

The Governor and legislative leaders have said repeatedly that they will not raise any taxes this year, but the Gross Receipts tax is going up anyway.

On July 1st, it goes from 7% to 8.1 %.

At the pump, that means you’ll pay another 3 or 4 cents per gallon.

“We need a movement to get the word out to people that there’s going to be a tax increase on gasoline, one of the worst things to put a tax on,” said Sen. Joe Markley, (R) Plantsville.

Freshman State Senator Art Linares of Westbrook has started an online petition to get the tax hike stopped.

“We’ve had a lot of activity, I think it’s a bipartisan issue. I think everyone doesn’t want to pay more at the pump, we’re paying enough right now,” said Sen. Art Linares,(R) Westbrook.

House Republican Leader Larry Cafero admits he voted for the tax hike back in 2005 when the economy was booming, now he says he’s found a way to stop it but lawmakers must act in the next 20 days.

“We take no action; on July 1st our gas tax in the State of Connecticut, which is already I think the third highest in the nation, goes up again,” said Cafero.

The Governor notes that this was part of a road and bridge repair plan that was proposed and voted on before he came into office, but he’s still not ruling out stopping the hike.

“We are spending additional dollars on transportation, we have to fund that somehow, but on the other hand, we’re weeks away from our work being completed here,so we’ll see what happens,” said Gov. Dannel Malloy.

Last year Republicans got the Democrats to stop a similar hike on July 1st, but the block to the hike was only for one year.

They are hoping to block this hike permanently.

You can go to the online petition to stop the gas tax hike here .