Rell Sides with Republicans, Backs Call
for Special Session to Cap Gas Tax
by Christine Stuart | July 3, 2008 3:22 PM
Posted to General News
Gov. M. Jodi Rell said Thursday that she supports a Republican call for another special session to cap one of the state’s two gas taxes.
At a press conference Thursday in Wickham Park, Rell said she actually proposed the idea of capping the wholesale price of gas a few years ago. Click here to read her Sept. 18, 2006 press release in which she proposes the cap.
When Rell proposed that cap in 2006, the wholesale price of gas was $2.23 per gallon. Today it’s about $3.55 per gallon.
In 2006, Rell said a cap on the wholesale price would not affect funding for transportation improvement projects that are being paid for through the tax because, “for more than a year, the gross receipts tax has produced millions of dollars more than originally anticipated because of the spiraling cost of the price of oil.”
The gross receipts tax levies a 7 percent surcharge on the wholesale price of gas. The excise gas tax is a flat 25 cents per gallon, and the 7 percent gross receipts tax is more than 26 cents per gallon, according to the Independent Connecticut Petroleum Association. This means Connecticut residents are paying about 51 cents per gallon in state taxes.
The legislature held a special session in June to stop the tax from increasing to 7.5 percent, but it didn’t cap the wholesale amount used to calculate the tax, which means that as the price of gas continues to rise, so does the state tax. Republicans called on the Democratic majority Tuesday to return to the Capitol and “finish the job they started” by capping the wholesale price at $3.40 per gallon.
Democratic leadership in response said that the skyrocketing price of gas was based on a failed energy policy at the national level.
“We all know that this is a global problem compounded by a failed national energy policy, and the state acted to help motorists where we could,” Speaker of the House James Amman, D-Milford, said in an emailed statement Tuesday.
Democratic leadership in the Senate echoed Amann’s statements. “The legislative Republicans, all of whom support President Bush and his failed energy agenda, would have you believe the energy crisis is due to Connecticut’s General Assembly — not President Bush, the international market, oil speculators, or the big oil companies enjoying record profits. No one buys what the Republicans are selling.”
“I can’t control Congress or OPEC, but I can control the taxes in the state,” Rell said Thursday. She said as gas prices continue to rise and as the home heating oil season approaches “it makes me feel like we need to do something now.”
Comments (3)
Posted by: Mike from Norwich![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.ctnewsjunkie.com/nav-commenters.gif)
| July 7, 2008 10:02 AM
Well this one is for the books, Now she wants.to have the legislature come back into a special session to reduce our gas tax on average 2 cents a gallon. Well I will be waiting to fill my tank until that happens. It will cost more for the legislature to run the lights and electricity in the Capitol Building then the money we will save for this so called cut. Hmm, this is what one certainly can call a easy political fix that fixes nothing
Posted by: Lothar | July 7, 2008 10:52 AM
Actually they'd be coming back to cap the gas tax. They already stopped the small increase from happening on July 1. If they do come back, they'll be making sure that your taxes don't go up each time the price of gas goes up. If they go through with it -- and they should -- it'll be a good thing. It won't cut taxes, but it will eliminate market-based tax increases.
Posted by: Mike from Norwich![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.ctnewsjunkie.com/nav-commenters.gif)
| July 8, 2008 1:09 PM
Yes, it may temporarily eliminate market based tax increases. However, I don't have a problem with suv drivers paying more in taxes for their autos that spew more greenhouse gases in the air. The average person will not feel any effect of this gimmick. And as far as the Legislature goes, they have not adjourned, so I did miss address.
Instead of cutting these taxes. Lets have a surcharge on SUV's. These vehicles are not necessary. How many people in their Escalades, ($60,000) go off roading??? They do not have to meet EPA standards for car emissions, they are exempt and they do not have to meet the same safety standards as cars. Look at the Consumer Reports. Most are "safer" but they do not have to meet the mileage or safety standards as cars. So I have no problem with these polluters paying more!!!!