Op-Ed: Lockbox on Transportation Funds Gaining Traction

By State Sen. Toni Boucher

The proposed lockbox on the state’s Special Transportation Fund is being hotly debated once again in the legislature. After many rounds of proposals, including my own, to stop the raids on this vital transportation funding source for the state’s transportation infrastructure is finally gaining traction, even as the state budget is skidding out of control.

The Governor’s transportation plan calls for $42 billion in new taxes. Under his watch the state has already experienced the largest and second largest tax increases in its history. He then asks for a ‘lockbox’ to protect those funds from his party. If we are to implement a lockbox, it needs to be diamond steel plated.

Joseph Sculley, Motor Transport Association of Connecticut President, is firing on all cylinders when writes that a lockbox can only work if the mix of regular and premium taxes and fees guzzled up by it are strictly defined. Otherwise those dollars can be hijacked between the times that money leaves your wallet and before it enters the lockbox. The current proposal does not define which revenue streams will pump into the ‘lockbox.’

Enough is enough. New taxes will only serve to slam the brakes on our economy.

Republicans have a plan, “Prioritize Progress,” that will invest up to $67 billion over 30 years in transportation infrastructure without new taxes. A ‘lockbox’ could be useful if it actually establishes firm protections for the funds it contains. New taxes on Connecticut's overwhelmed taxpayers can only be a burden. They are already running on empty.

Sen. Toni Boucher, Ranking member Transportation Committee

Sen. Boucher can be contacted at 800-842-1421 or at toni.boucher@cga.ct.gov .