Rep. McGorty Votes Against Toll-Related Bills in the Transportation Committee

HARTFORD – State Rep. Ben McGorty on Thursday voted in opposition to four democrat proposals that would start the process of implementing tolls in Connecticut.

The four bills that were approved by the Transportation committee are:

SB 389: An Act Establishing the Connecticut Transportation Authority
HB 5393: An Act Establishing the Connecticut Transportation Finance Authority to Maintain Major State Highways
HB 5046 (governor’s bill): An Act Concerning the Sustainability of Transportation Projects
HB 5391: An Act Concerning Transportation Infrastructure

Rep. McGorty said families and businesses already pay enough in taxes and that tolls would just be another billion dollar tax hike on the hardworking people of Connecticut.

“We have one the highest gas taxes in the country, we pay car registration fees and property taxes on our cars, and now Governor Malloy wants to place another tax on residents by implementing tolls throughout our state. When are Governor Malloy and legislative Democrats going to realize that more taxes are not the answer to solving our budget crisis,” explained Rep. McGorty.

Rep. McGorty continued, “We have plenty of revenue coming into the state to rebuild our outdated infrastructure. All we need to do is prioritize where we spend our money and make the Department of Transportation more efficient. Giving the state more revenue without a guarantee that it will be spent correctly will continue us down the same road and taxpayers will never see a benefit.

Each proposal related to authorizing tolls now heads to the appropriate legislative chamber for consideration later this spring.