Gasoline and fuel are now too volatile of a commodity to be taxed fairly at the pump or at gross receipts level.

First, we need to help the citizens of this state deal with the current energy price crisis. And while we can’t make our federal government actually get any work done, we can effect change at the state level. Eliminate the CT fuel tax. The revenue will be made up for in the 2 steps below.

Second, we need to align our tax structure for the future. There is going to be a large shift in vehicle MPG and then into Electric or Hydrogen. Tax for road use and repair should be an additional line item on your vehicle’s personal property tax bill. this will make sure that now and in the future all vehicles including hybrids, hydrogen, gasoline and electric vehicles are all taxed fairly and equally when it comes to taxes on our roads and highways. If we wait until fuel prices realign, there will be a large drop in revenue as our demand for gas has dropped and will continue to drop.

Third, build Solar/geothermal powered toll booths at the entrances to our state. All inbound traffic from 84, 95, 91, 395 stop only once. Each vehicle entering pays .50 per axle to enter our state. this applys a road use fee to all vehicles fairly including pass through traffic and generates a couple hundred million a year. Where else are these cars going to travel? If they need to get North, we’d still be cheaper than the Mass Pike.

We can’t control the federal government, but we do control our state. Lets make the right moves now. this 3 step plan is simple, makes sense, and most importantly makes the revenue needed to more than offset the current revenue generated from the current tax structure.

Build toll booths on the inbound lanes, power them with solar panels, heat them and cool them with geothermal wells and they will be long term assets to our state without the expensive overhead.

With inbound traffic over 373K vehicles ADT (2006 CT-DOT) and a well thought out toll booth construction plan, we would generate well over 150 Million dollars a year in revenue if we charged only $1 per vehicle.