On Wednesday, March 8, Joe Cecarelli, the LDAC Legislative Chair, spoke at a press conference held by House Minority Leader Vincent Candalora (R) on the Connecticut Highway Use Tax. Rep. Candalora was supported by the entire House Republican Caucus. Joe was one of seven speakers including from the CT Farm Bureau, several trucking organizations, a dairy farm, and a mulch distributor. The Motor Transport Association of CT was also in attendance.
Joe’s comments focused on how this tax adds increased costs to deliveries and how the tax leads to differential treatment of in- and out-of-state truckers due to the lack of enforcement mechanisms. Joe also responded to several questions from the press corps. Most of the points other speakers made were in regard to the additional costs that would be passed down to CT residents as well as the 50% evasion rate, from out of state truckers.
The plea from Rep Candalora and the Republican Caucus was to take a pause on HUT and really study where CT is investing transportation dollars, and where they can potentially be redirected. An example was the subsidy of CT’s Shoreline East rail service which is completely underutilized and costing the State a fortune.