Gov. M. Jodi Rell vowed to resurrect her proposal to eliminate the car tax, making it clear her top priority, which failed in the legislature, would be a key issue in this year's gubernatorial campaign.
"Don't you just swear a little under your breath every time you have to pay this tax?" Rell said, adding just 11 states tax automobiles. "If you get rid of the tax, you will have real property tax relief you can see." (Lucas)
The car tax was torpedoed in part because municipalities felt it would cost them money, and that the administration's numbers didn't add up. Democrats instead focused on income tax credits for homeowners.
This might be a useful issue for Rell. A little over half of respondants approved of the idea of repealing the car tax in a February Quinnipiac Poll. Then again, it seems that the more people hear about the car tax repeal, the less they like it. So we'll see.
Source
Lucas, Fred. "Rell to revive ban on car tax." Danbury News-Times 17 May, 2006.
1 comment:
I'm rather puzzled by the Democrat's opposition to the car tax. In Connecticut, your car tax is based on the mill rate, which is influenced by how much property (business property, homes, land and cars) there exists in the town and what the budget needs are.
This means that in a town like Greenwich, with a large grand list and a comparatively small school population, the mill rate is quite low compared to a city like New Haven or Waterbury.
This means that you get massive distortions: a new BMW in Greenwich can have less property tax than a used Chevy in New Haven.
Sure, a few people in Greenwich have really expensive cars, but in reality, the car tax is much more of a regressive tax than just about any other tax in the state.
The income tax is not that progressive, but it isn't regressive. Sales tax has the potential to be regressive, except that groceries and $50 and under clothing is exempt, so it's probably not that regressive.
Normal property tax could possibly be regressive, except that the lower income earners are going to have lower valued homes, which will mean that at the end of the day, their actual payment is probably less.
But the car tax is clearly one of the most regressive. Unlike houses, which vary widely in price throughout the state, cars are more or less the same price, and will always have the same blue book value, whether in Hartford or Greenwich. The gas tax is probably equally regressive, except even the gas tax isn't higher in the less affluent towns the way the car tax is.
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