Tom Warne Report, 5 July 2013
The first day of July brought Connecticut’s gas tax to one of the highest in the nation, reaching nearly 50 cents per gallon. A new 3.6 cent wholesale gasoline tax increase, which is passed directly onto consumers from retailers, brought the state’s combination of retail and wholesale gas taxes up to 49.6 cents per gallon. An 18-cent-per-gallon federal tax is part of that near 50-cent tax, according to the state Department of Revenue Services.
California and New York are the only states with higher gas taxes, with rates just over 50 cents a gallon.
Connecticut has two taxes on gasoline that equal 46 cents per gallon. One is a flat, 25-cent-per-gallon retail charge at the pump. With the newly effective wholesale tax increase to 8.81 percent, motorists pay 24.6 cents per gallon, up from 21 cents before the new hike.
The new gas taxes implemented this week will bring the state an additional $60 million in revenue this year, but state highway projects will only see a small portion of that money. Between 2005 and 2013, approximately $1.27 billion raised by the tax has been spent on non-transportation programs.
“$1.2 billion has disappeared,” said Michael Fox, executive director of an association representing about 400 Connecticut gasoline stations. “It’s not that we didn’t have the money. It’s that the legislature — and I use this word — stole the money.”