Legislature passes Gov. Lamont’s truck mileage tax

Late last week, the legislature passed the truck mileage tax being pushed by Governor Ned Lamont. Once signed into law, it will become effective on January 1, 2023.

MTAC put up a valiant fight, but it was not enough to stop the tax the governor really wanted.

To recap, some of the things that MTAC did as part of the fight against the tax included:

• Produced this video of MTAC members calculating the potential costs to their businesses, and shared it with every member of the legislature and the media

• Sent this letter to legislative leaders on February 18, 2021
• Submitted this written testimony to the legislature’s Finance, Revenue & Bonding Committee on March 22, 2021, and then provided verbal testimony to the Committee in a public hearing
• Organized a coalition of other business groups who are opposed to the truck mileage tax, and sent this letter to Finance, Revenue & Bonding Committee leaders on April 12, 2021
• At the invitation of one powerful legislator, proposed these alternatives to the truck mileage tax, which were seemingly ignored by the person who invited MTAC to propose the alternatives once they were submitted by MTAC
• Had this Op Ed published in CT News Junkie which discusses the state government’s poor treatment of the small business trucking industry in the state
• Invited all interested parties, including all legislators and staff, to attend a Zoom meeting in which ATRI president Rebecca Brewster presented the findings of recent research which discuss many obstacles associated with administering a national mileage tax, as well as research documenting the shortcomings of New York’s Ton-Mile Tax
• Added a couple more organizations to the coalition against the mileage tax, and then sent the letter again to legislative leaders, in addition to Finance, Revenue & Bonding Committee leaders on May 17, 2021
• Had this Letter to the Editor regarding the truck mileage tax published in the Hartford Courant on May 30, 2021
• Sent this email to all legislators and staffers on June 5, 2021 outlining why this tax scheme is likely to fail, just as it has in 20 other states

As the legislative session was approaching its June 9 adjournment date, MTAC learned that Governor Lamont made a deal with the legislature. He would approve more state bonding in order to send money to towns and cities, if the legislature approved the truck mileage tax. Something like that is hard to fight against.

During debate on the bill in the House of Representatives, the Democrat majority rejected an amendment introduced by several Republicans that would have eliminated the truck mileage tax, in favor of providing $320 million annually in additional funding to the Special Transportation Fund. This would have been accomplished by transferring tax revenue generated by motor vehicle repair services and motor vehicle part and transportation services, plus transferring some revenue generated by rental car sales taxes to the Special Transportation Fund, from the General Fund where that revenue currently goes. This amendment that would have generated $320 million annually to the Special Transportation Fund was rejected in favor of keeping the truck mileage tax, which will potentially generate only $90 million per year.

Also during the debate, proponents of the truck mileage tax introduced and passed an amendment to exempt dairy trucks from paying the truck mileage tax, out of concern that the cost of the mileage tax would negatively impact farms in the state. Interestingly, per federal law, dairy trucks can operate at 100,000 pounds Gross Vehicle Weight, while the limit for other tractor trailers is 80,000 pounds. In passing this amendment, proponents indirectly admitted that the truck mileage tax will in fact increase the cost of goods, and they also undercut their argument that heavy tractor trailers damage the roads more so than other vehicles.

During the debate, the main proponent of the legislation commented that there was not as much testimony submitted in opposition to the truck mileage tax as he thought there would be.

To see how members of the House of Representatives voted, click here. A “NO” vote means that person stood with the trucking industry and opposed the mileage tax. A “YES” vote was a vote for the tax. Similarly, the Senate vote count can be seen here.

MTAC is currently working with its allies to determine if some parts, or potentially all of the entire new law, may be unconstitutional, and thus subject to potential court challenges.