Politics is the transportation problem; restoring trust is the solution
Click to read!—Politics is the transportation problem; restoring trust is the solution!
Regional gasoline tax takes step forward! Could raide Retail Prices $.75 Per Gallon!
Regional Gas Tax Proposed and Moving Forward – See the attached to be informed!
Click below!
Regional Gas Tax Moving Forward!
CT FOOD TAX EXPLAINED!
The CT FOOD TAX goes into effect Today – See the attached for what you need to know and what you need to do!
Click below for what is and is not taxed!
CT FOOD TAX – what you need to know!
ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE PLASTIC BAG FEE EFFECTIVE AUGUST-1-2019!
The Plastic Bag Fee and Ban goes into effect August 1, 2019. See the attached for what you need to know and what you need to do! The fee is expected to generate $27 Million to the State Annually!
Click below for all 7-pages of DRS Information!
Plastic Bag Fees – what you need to know!
GASDA OPINION regarding Tolls, Gas Tax Lock Box Published!
As we always have been and will continue to be representing our members, we created a written piece on Tolls, lowering the Gas Tax and the Lock Box where are gas taxes, Gross Receipts Tax Goes and that opinion has now been published
To Read the entire opinion click the link!
CT Viewpoint Opinion Piece Tolls
DEAL PENDING – Phillips 66 Station for Sale – Asking $250,000 + Inventory
Business Only – Land not for Sale!
Unique opportunity to convert 4-bays into a very large C-Store. Station is located at a 4-way intersection with huge traffic flow all around. Shopping centers insure steady traffic flow now and into the future. Large property with Canopy and 6 MPD pumps. New PMPA Lease and Tanks just received 10-year extension.
For Information & Pictures Cut -paste link below into your Browser
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yKGIkiI0XosB8Ml95fIFPkOzyXvrikZQ/view?usp=sharing
April 01 2019
Why the GOV is WRONG that only cutting
the Gas Tax will get the State much needed Tolls!
To see the Story click the link below
Lamonts only Hope in Tolls Mess is Lower Gas Tax
The Gov and anyone saying to just cut the gas tax by $.05 is not listening to the problem/voters. Let me make this very easy as this article points out – Voters and Republicans both can see the past raiding of transportation funds. We are talking about Billions of dollars not chump change. With that said, to make Voters and Republicans happy -1St. Eliminate the hidden gas tax called the Gross Receipts Tax that saves the Voters who have been paying the tab and the ones who were robbed a break that makes sense. 2nd Lock Box must be a real lock box that can only be changed by a Voter Referendum. That restores the trust that has been broken with the Tax Payers of this State. If the money is really going to only be used for Transportation and not robbed WHAT IS THE PROBLEM? The only reason the Gov or either party would not do this if the real intent is to ROB the Toll Revenue like they have in the PAST. Both parties are too blame for this! Now is the time to restore trust to those who pay the bills – the taxpayers of CT. PERIOD!
April 01 2019
IF YOU PURCHASED GASOLINE OR DIESEL FUEL FROM STANDARD OIL AFTER SEPTEMBEER 2004 YOU MUST READ THIS AND CALL THE OFFICE!
To Review Click Below or Copy!
Standard Oil Letter for Class Action Lawsuit 6-pages
May 10 2019
Chip Card Storm Brews – As the October 2020 EMV liability shift at the pump draws near, the cost of NOT taking action grows clear!
To Review the Article Click Below!
Chip Card Storm Brews 5-10-2019
April 26 2019
STUDY- Consumers are NOT Loyal to one Brand of Fuel Anymore!
To Review the Study Click Below or Copy!
STUDY-Majority-of-Drivers-are-NOT-Brand-Loyal-to-any-one-Fuel-Anymore-4-25-2019-1.pdf
February 21 2019
Gov. Call for Tolls Reduction in Gas Tax!
For Review of what the Gov. said in his speech Click Below or Copy!
Gov Plan for Tolls also call for Reduction in Gas Tax
January 14th, 2019
ANALYSIS | Reduce the Gas Tax for Tolls – A Look at the Numbers
For Complete List Click Below for Complete Copy of all Bills
Reduce Gas Tax for Tolls
January 4th, 2019
ANALYSIS | New CT Laws that go into Effect January 2019
For Complete List Click Below for Complete Copy of all Bills
New CT Laws for 2019
November 12th, 2018
ANALYSIS: What the Transportation Lockbox Will Do & What it Won’t
by Susan Bigelow
We in Connecticut never agree on anything except how miserable we all are, but on Tuesday over 85 percent of voters ratified the two proposed amendments to the state constitution. One, which will create a constitutional “lockbox” for the Special Transportation Fund, has the potential to influence our lives in a big way — but how is that going to work?
The Special Transportation Fund is a portion of state money set aside only for transportation. Revenue flows into the fund from sources like the gross receipts tax, the gas tax, motor carrier taxes, and DMV fees, which makes sense as they’re all related to transportation and the expensive-to-maintain road system (public transit has its own revenue stream — fares).
In theory this sounds great. We pay taxes on gas, which we use to drive all over the roads, and those taxes help pay to fix the roads back up.
If only it were that simple. The reason this amendment is long overdue is because of the General Assembly’s massive impulse control problem. When the budget gets tight, legislators’ eyes have sometimes turned toward the Special Transportation Fund, and that cash finds its way into the General Fund instead.
This happens despite the fact that there’s a law on the books saying touching that money for anything, but transportation is forbidden! But thanks to a complicated legal theory that says one legislature can’t impose its will on any following legislatures, that law is essentially unenforceable.
Therefore, when the legislature voted to send this amendment to the people, they were in essence begging us to save them from themselves. We delivered. Here’s the text of the new amendment to the state constitution:
The Special Transportation Fund shall remain a perpetual fund. The general assembly shall direct the resources of said fund solely for transportation purposes, including the payment of debt service on obligations of the state incurred for transportation purposes. Sources of funds, moneys and receipts of the state credited, deposited or transferred to said fund by state law on or after the effective date of this amendment shall be credited, deposited or transferred to the Special Transportation Fund, so long as such sources are authorized by statute to be collected or received by the state, or any officer thereof, and the general assembly shall enact no law authorizing the resources of said fund to be expended other than for transportation purposes.
So now what?
The immediate impact will be felt in January when the next session of the legislature meets and the tough discussions about how to fill yet another massive budget gap begin. Transportation funding will be protected from whatever fiscal apocalypse awaits us, which, in a state where so much of our infrastructure is rapidly decaying, is a relief.
That doesn’t mean transportation programs will be adequately funded, however. In fact, because cars are getting more fuel efficient, money from the gas tax in the fund has been slowly dwindling over time. That means that unless lawmakers raise existing transportation taxes and fees or add a new source of revenue, we’ll be just as bad off as we are now, if not worse.
That’s a major problem with the lockbox — it doesn’t specify funding levels or any kind of consistency, just that certain pots of money are off-limits for general spending. And while it does ensure that revenue from a tax or fee can’t be removed from the lockbox unless the entire tax or fee is repealed, it also doesn’t mandate that if one source of money goes away it be replaced by something else.
In short, future legislatures could let the Special Transportation Fund wither and die on the vine by repealing entire taxes and then turning around to pass new ones that can go in the general pot.
If we do end up with tolls on the roads, this is one of the dangers. The legislature will likely specify that the revenue from tolls be solely directed to transportation, but they don’t have to. Since the lockbox amendment only applies to revenue explicitly designated for the Special Transportation Fund, the easiest way around it would be to leave that designation off the bill.
Imagine this scenario: the legislature enacts tolls and promises to cut or even get rid of the gas tax as an incentive for people not to flip out. If toll money can go into the general fund because it’s not designated for transportation only, then the fund is going to dry up fast.
Other states with lockboxes like this have struggled, because a lockbox like this does require a certain amount of good faith on the part of the legislature which, surprise, is never forthcoming.
That means that we’re going to have to be vigilant. When tolls come — and they will — the revenue from them must be specifically dedicated to the Special Transportation Fund. If that doesn’t happen, we could find ourselves going through an awful lot of pain for nothing.
October 19, 2018
Voters should Reject Lock Box Ruse
Every state relies on its transportation network to drive economic development and maximize quality of life.
For this reason, insufficient transportation funding and mismanagement of spending on projects presents a major roadblock to Connecticut’s economic recovery.
The unacceptable state of our infrastructure has a direct impact on all residents, making commuting a nightmare while constraining existing businesses and dooming many newer ones. A study by U.S. News & World Report named Connecticut’s transportation system the third worst in the nation overall, with the very worst road quality out of all 50 states. Meanwhile, rail and bus services are threatened with cuts on an almost annual basis.
A major cause of our transportation woes is a state legislature that has made a habit out of raiding money earmarked for transportation from the Special Transportation Fund (STF) and sweeping it into the abyss of the General Fund, where they can use it to fund “pet projects,” to maintain entitlement programs and to plug holes in the billion dollar budget deficits that have presented themselves annually for the past decade.
To address this misuse of your tax dollars, I, along with my Republican colleagues, have proposed that the State Constitution be amended to prevent the legislature from using STF dollars for any purpose other than transportation, with clear definitions of what constitutes “transportation purposes.” Further, we prop