Anyone who registers a vehicle out of state to avoid property taxes in Connecticut is the target of a pair of bills advancing through the legislature. This comes after a series of reports by the NBC Connecticut Troubleshooters on the issue.
Tax assessors tell us their cash strapped towns and cities are losing out on millions of dollars per year because of this problem. A number of studies on this actually have cited NBC Connecticut's stories over the past few years and legislators are responding with some creative approaches.
State Representative Tony Guererra’s transportation committee has passed a bill tweaking our state’s vehicle registration law. It would make it easier for officers to give a summons for having a vehicle improperly registered out of state to skirt property taxes. Right now officers can only do this for a vehicle that is running. The bill would allow them to go after ones not being driven.
Senator Michael McLachlan of Danbury got a bill through the planning and development committee that would tap the Connecticut Department of Motor Vehicles to help towns get registration information from DMV’s in other states where they believe Connecticut vehicles have been registered. The state tax assessors’ association has tried to get that information on its own, but most states would not hand it over.
A Connecticut DMV spokesperson tells the NBC Connecticut Troubleshooters, “we are monitoring this legislation as it proceeds through the legislative process.”
Both these bills, if they advance, could go through a lot more changes before they reach the governor’s desk.
