Connecticut Commentary: Red Notes from a Blue State

Lamont Looney Aresimowicz Clever frogs know how to take a step back so that they might advance two steps forward. Governor Ned Lamont met recently with the governors of two contiguous states, Rhode Island and Massachusetts to palaver about infrastructure maintenance. A fierce middle class taxpayer opposition to tolling in Connecticut has given the governor and the two Democrat gate-keepers in the General Assembly, Senate President Martin Looney and Speaker of the House Joe Aresimowicz, political hiccups. Lamont began pushing for tolls during his election campaign for governor. In that campaign, Republican nominee for governor  Bob Stefanowski  was widely derided by Democrats and critics in the state’s media for centering his campaign on a pledge to do away with Connecticut’s income tax over a ten year period. Pressing on, Stefanowski said his pledge was aspirational and, once accomplished, would reset Connecticut in New England’s crown as a haven from excessive t...

Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me – an Italian proverb House Bill 5046 , which would re-establish tolls in Connecticut, is yet another tax, a tax being money that flows from private wallets to public treasuries. According to popular delusion, people traveling from states bordering Connecticut will pay the tax. The trick in taxing is to find someone else to pick up the bill. Senator Russell Long of Louisiana put it aphoristically: “Don’t tax you, don’t tax me, tax the fellow behind the tree.” The truth is: We are the people behind the tree. Even when the tax burden appears to be paid by someone else, as in business taxes, the burden of taxation comes home to roost. Businesses collect corporate taxes from the consumers of their products and services. Like your smarmy politician, the taxed business is a tax collection operation. In the case of transportation tolls, the imposture is thin and transparent. Only about 30 percent of congestion tolling ...