Connecticut governor signs into law truck tax

June 28, 2021

Keith Goble

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A new law in Connecticut authorizes the state to tap truckers to raise transportation revenue.

On Friday, Gov. Ned Lamont signed into law a bill to impose a highway user fee, or tax, on Class 8 through 13 trucks. The Democrat-led Legislature voted earlier this month largely along partisan lines to send the bill to the governor.

No more ‘free ride’

The legislation proposed by Lamont, a Democrat, was introduced in the final days of the regular session in a last minute effort to secure additional transportation funding.

Senate Transportation Committee Chairman Will Haskell said at the time it is time to stop giving trucking operations a “free ride” in Connecticut.

“Some may ask why impose a fee on trucks,” Haskell, D-Westport, said on the Senate floor. “Because, at this moment Connecticut taxpayers are subsidizing the tremendous wear and tear that large tractor-trailers have on our highways.”

The nitty gritty

Previously HB6688, the new law establishes a series of fees based on truck size and weight.

Starting Jan. 1, 2023, tax rates are scheduled to increase incrementally for trucks starting at 26,000 pounds. Specifically, rates will range from 2.5 cents per mile for trucks with a gross weight of 26,000 pounds to 10 cents per mile for trucks weighing 80,000 pounds.

Trucks weighing more than 80,000 pounds are slated to pay 17.5 cents per mile.

An exception will be made for milk haulers traveling to or from a dairy farm.

The state’s Office of Fiscal Analysis estimates revenue from the tax at $90 million annually.

‘Easy target’

OOIDA Director of State Legislative Affairs Mike Matousek said it is not a surprise that Connecticut legislative leaders singled out truck drivers.

“This is yet another effort by Gov. Lamont and his anti-trucking allies to raid the bank accounts of some of the hardest working people on the planet,” Matousek said. “Big trucks – especially out-of-state trucks – make for an easy target, and elected officials have picked up on that.”

As an industry, we need to figure out a way to change that dynamic and hold lawmakers more accountable for their bad decisions.”

Truckers in the state say that out-of-state operations will avoid travel in Connecticut. In-state businesses will be left to pay the tax.

Critics add that truck fees will result in additional costs for all consumers. As a result, the state’s economy will suffer.

Senate Republican leader Kevin Kelly of Stratford said the truck tax is a bad look for the state. He cited the work of professional drivers during the pandemic.

“The very people we praised as frontline essential workers during the pandemic, who went above and beyond to transport necessities to us when we could not go very far ourselves, would be the target of this tax,” Kelly said during Senate floor discussion. “And the tax will be passed on to our families.”

Transportation Climate Initiative

The decision to press forward with a truck tax came days after legislative leaders backed away from a regional climate plan to aid transportation work and limit emissions from road, rail and air sources.

Late last year, Lamont, along with governors in Massachusetts and Rhode Island and the mayor of Washington, D.C., signed a memorandum of understanding stating their intention to bolster transportation funding and reduce emissions.

Each participating state is responsible for approving the final tax plan. The expectation is fuel costs could initially increase 5 to 17 cents per gallon.

Dubbed the Transportation and Climate Initiative, the regional climate pact requires large gasoline and diesel suppliers to buy what are called “allowances” in a cap-and-trade plan. Essentially, companies would be limited to how much carbon dioxide they could emit. After reaching its cap, a company could pay the government a certain amount of money to go beyond that limit. Allowances a company could purchase would decline each year.

Regional pact likely to be revisited

Legislation introduced at the Connecticut statehouse this spring called for formally joining the regional climate pact.

Critics, including statehouse Republicans, voiced concern about the program essentially being a fuel tax increase that would burden road users and business owners.

In the days leading up to the governor’s announcement that pursuit of the plan was being abandoned for the year, supporters said that criticism of the program amounted to fearmongering. They painted the program as the future of transportation funding.

Senate Democrats said at the time the issue could be brought back for consideration during the 2022 regular session.

Lamont called on legislative leaders to bring the issue up for consideration during a brief special session with a limited agenda. Lawmakers opted not to add the regional climate pact to the agenda for the session that has since ended. LL

More Land Line coverage of news from Connecticut.