Gov. Ned Lamont rejected calls Wednesday by business owners and House Republicans to pause the collection of a new mileage tax on tractor-trailers that raised $4.3 million in its first month, the majority from out-of-state truckers. “You got to pay your bills in life,” Lamont said. “We’ve got a lot of expense when it comes to roads and bridges.” Starting Jan. 1, carriers using tractor-trailers have to pay between 2.5 cents and 17.5 cents for every mile driven in Connecticut, with the fee dependent on the gross weight of the vehicle. The new tax is projected to eventually produce $7.5 million a month, or $90 million a year, for the special transportation fund, which collected about $2 billion in 2022, mostly in sales tax and fuel tax revenues. The Democratic-controlled legislature passed the truck mileage tax at Lamont’s request last year, two years after he failed to win approval of highway tolls, a far bigger revenue source pitched at a time when the transportation fund was approaching insolvency.
Lamont defends truck mileage tax: ‘You got to pay your bills’