Team Markley Adinolfi Urge Cheshire Motorists to Sign Statewide Petition to Fight July 1st Gas Tax Hike

Hartford, CT –Senator Joe Markley (R-Southington) and Representative Al Adinolfi (R-Cheshire) along with Republican legislators from across the state gathered signatures for a petition to fight increases in the state gas tax and diesel fuel tax scheduled for July 1st. Motorists can sign an online petition by visiting www.AxeTheGasTaxCT.com.

“The size and cost of an already-bloated government is growing yet again through this tax hike, and that’s something that’s unlikely to sit well with Connecticut motorists,” Rep. Adinolfi said.
The gas tax in Connecticut is already about 22 cents higher than in neighboring states like Massachusetts and the July 1st gas tax hike would raise prices at the pump another 4 cents per gallon.

“This tax is another burden on our citizens and we should be doing everything in our power to stop it,” said Sen. Markley.

The tax set to increase (called the petroleum gross receipts tax) is a hidden state tax on gasoline that motorists pay above and beyond the state (25¢) and federal (18.4¢) excise taxes.

This tax is a percentage of the wholesale price of gasoline and is scheduled to increase from 7% to 8.1% on July 1st (a 16% increase). According to the Connecticut Energy Marketers Association (CEMA), the average wholesale price of gasoline in Connecticut is currently $2.82/gallon and Connecticut state taxes on a gallon of gasoline total 45 cents.

At the same time, Connecticut’s Diesel Fuel Tax, which is based on the petroleum gross receipts tax rate, is scheduled to increase by 3.5 cents per gallon, which will increase trucking and transportation costs, causing a ripple effect that will increase consumer costs on everything from groceries and clothing, to construction, as well as other goods and services.

Legislative Republicans offered plans this legislative session in committee and in both the State Senate and State House of Representatives to eliminate the tax hike and they proposed several options to replace the lost revenue. None of which were accepted by the majority party.

The petition drive at the Cheshire Gulf Station on Rte. 10 garnered a number of signatures in two hours. As of Tuesday, more than 14,000 people statewide had signed the online petition. The next step is to present the petition to the Governor in the hopes public pressure will force him to call lawmakers back to Hartford for a special vote to repeal the tax hike.