Letter To The Editor: It Is The Wrong Time For A Fuel Tax Increase

To the Editor:

Connecticut and the rest of the country continue to feel the pains of record high inflation and the Federal Reserve has just announced its largest interest rate increase in nearly 30 years. It is unconscionable for our State to implement a 23 percent increase in the tax on diesel fuel. The price of diesel fuel in Connecticut is already over six dollars a gallon and the price of regular gas is now hovering around five dollars a gallon. This increase affects everything we buy from groceries, retail goods, services and obviously gas and home heating oil. Unlike the state budget that has billions of dollars of surplus funds, household budgets are being strained; the timing of this tax increase makes little sense.

As Democrats control all legislative branches and constitutional offices in Hartford, I do not understand why Fairfield State Representative Jennifer Leeper and the Democrat Majority voted against proposals to cut the diesel tax this past legislative session. Connecticut and Fairfield in particular, are amazing places to live and raise a family but have always been burdened with high taxes and affordability. This is just the latest example of tax policy hurting working families and individuals on a fixed income.

The simple answer in the short term is a special session this summer to ease the tax burden while the long term solution requires the State to live within its means just like the rest of us.

Brian Farnen
Former Fairfield State Representative