Governor's Car Tax Plan Has Mayors Mad

Gov. Dannel Malloy's $43 billion two-year budget proposal includes no new taxes, increases spending in the first year by 5 percent and he wants to end the sales tax on clothing and shoes for items under $25 as well as eliminate the car tax.

However, leaders of cities and towns believe the elimination of that car tax will hurt them.

"You can't cut the motor vehicle tax and not supplant it with revenue for Danbury," Mayor Mark Boughton said.

The City of Danbury collects $10 million a year from this tax, which means the city will have to absorb the loss.

Hartford's mayor, a Democrat, shares the concerns of his Republican counterpart.

"The question becomes whether we have to replace that from the residential owners and what the impact of absorbing that cost would be," Mayor Pedro Segarra said.

Malloy insisted in his budget address that there would be no cuts to municipal aid.

"Once again we hold municipalities harmless in this budget," Malloy said.

But mayors are concerned that funding will remain flat.

Cities like Danbury will see a $6 million boost in education dollars, however Boughton said the city should be able to decide how that money is spent.

"It's completely disingenuous to switch money from one account to another account and say, 'I'm increasing funding for eduction,' when the reality is, you're taking away from our operating budget," Boughton said.
 

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