Money Collected from Gas Tax Increase Should be used for Intended Purpose

The price you’re paying at the pump now is a lot more than it was just a few weeks ago, thanks in part to an increase to one of the state’s two gas taxes. And the worst part is, money collected through this tax hike won’t go toward its intended purpose—transportation projects. That’s bad news for a state whose conditions of roads and bridges were recently listed by the American Society of Civil Engineers as among the nation’s worst.

In 2005, during rosier economic times and with an eye toward improving the state’s transportation grid, the legislature scheduled an increase to the so-called “gross receipts tax” that’s applied as a percentage to the wholesale price of gas. Since that time, however, both the national and state economies have struggled as gas prices increased. Now, we just can’t afford to pay more for gas.

But that’s just what happened July 1 when the 16 percent tax increase went into effect, triggering a roughly 4-cent-per-gallon increase at the pump.

It didn’t have to be that way, though.

Republican lawmakers urged majority party Democrats and Gov. Dannel Malloy to forgo the tax hike that’s expected to deliver $60 million to Connecticut’s coffers. Surely they could find a way to reduce spending by that amount in their $37 billion, right? After all, the governor in 2011 promised millions in government savings as he trumpeted his “shared sacrifice” budget—including a plan to save money using comments from a “state employee suggestion box.”

Well, we’re still waiting for those promised suggestions and savings. And, majority party legislators, both this year and last year, voted against stopping the gross receipts tax increase.

Their “shared sacrifice” vision for Connecticut persists. Unfortunately, it’s residents, rather than our bloated government, that’s doing all of the sacrificing.

The recent budget from Democrats carries a 9 percent spending increase, and relies heavily on borrowing as well as the extension of taxes that were set to expire. They also raided accounts for money that was set aside for other purposes, including the Probate Court Fund, the Tobacco and Health Trust Fund, the Stem Cell Research Fund, and the Connecticut Resources Recovery Authority.

Revenue collected from the state’s gross receipts tax on gasoline goes into the Special Transportation Fund, which supports projects that include road and bridge repair. But majority party legislators raided that fund, too, taking roughly $100 million to prop up their house-of-cards budget.

If motorists in Connecticut are forced to pay more at the pump, then money collected from the tax increase should go toward its intended purpose rather than a bloated government bureaucracy.