Trumbull Legislators Pleased Mileage Tax Study Has Been Shelved

HARTFORD — State Reps. David Rutigliano (R-123) and Laura Devlin (R-134) hailed a decision by the state to stop an ill-conceived plan to spend $300,000 of taxpayer funds to study how to tax state residents for miles driven on Connecticut roads.

Rep. Rutigliano said, “Someone finally came to their senses. The last thing Trumbull residents need is the prospect of – big brother – the government, knowing how far you travel and to where you travel every time you’re in your car.”

“Spending $300,000 on this mileage tax study when we have a major budget shortfall was never a good idea. We need to be finding ways to keep state residents in Connecticut not studying ways that will lead others to leave,” said Rep. Devlin.

Earlier this session, Rep. Devlin supported a bill in the Transportation committee which prohibits the DOT from using state matching funds to determine the feasibility and implementation of a mileage tax on motor vehicles operated on state highways, SB-76.

The federal application was submitted by the Delaware Department of Transportation (DOT) on behalf of the I-95 Corridor Coalition, a consortium of 16 states. It proposes pilot programs in five states – Connecticut, Delaware, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and another to be determined – designed to learn more about implementing “mileage-based user fees.” The proposal includes developing model legislation.

The program’s estimated cost is $2.98 million. The application requests half that amount, $1.49 million, in federal funds, with individual states providing the rest in matching funds. With a commitment of $300,000, Connecticut would have paid more in cash than any other state.

The mileage tax study would have looked at how miles driven could be taxed as a replacement for the traditional tax on gasoline. According to the DOT, approximately 50 state residents would have had mileage trackers installed in their cars to transmit miles driven data to a vendor, which would generate a fake tax bill.

The Connecticut Department of Transportation joined this application without asking for legislative approval or permitting the public to be heard on the issue of a mileage tax.