Community Corner

Rocky Hill could lose $3.9 million In Revenue If State Eliminates Car Tax

Officials from local communities will go to Hartford today to testify against Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's proposal to eliminate the car tax. They say the plan will force them to raise other local taxes.

 

Already concerned about leaders of small towns from across Connecticut will be in Hartford today to testify against the governor's request to eliminate local car taxes.

In Rocky Hill that plan would cost the town $3.9 million annually, according to figures drafted by the state's Office of Fiscal Analysis.

Find out what's happening in Rocky Hillwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"I think it is a very poorly thought out idea," Rocky Hill Town Manager Barbara Gilbert said. "I hope that our legislators vote against it. It will harm Rocky Hill and all towns. As much as it hurst us, imagine how it will hurt a city like Hartford ($21.2 million lost). All that tax burden will then fall on the rental untis and the landlords. Just like it would with our rental units in Rocjy Hill. It just doesn't make sense."

Malloy has offered the plan as tax relief for the middle class, arguing that car taxes don't provide as much local revenue as officials believe because it is difficult and costly to collect, according to a report on the website Ct News Junkie.

Find out what's happening in Rocky Hillwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

But local officials complain that Malloy's proposal would put a serious dent in their budgets, costing some towns millions of dollars annually, revenue that will have to be made up by raising local taxes on other business property and real estate.

The proposal, which is being aired today in a hearing befor the legislature's Finance, Revenue, and Bonding Committee, would leaver her community "no other option but to raise property taxes on business and homeowners,” Somers First Selectwoman Lisa Pellegrini told Ct News Junkie.


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