Lawmakers will be back at the State Capitol Wednesday looking to give more than $100 million in tax relief back to Connecticut residents.
“It provides at least some temporary relief to some of the high gas prices that we’ve seen and also some of the higher inflation we’ve seen as well as it relates to clothing, footwear, and other types of goods,” Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff said.
Duff says the bipartisan package includes a 25-cent per-gallon gas tax holiday through June 30, an additional sales tax holiday on clothing and footwear under $100, and free bus fare for the month of April.
“I think it will provide real savings to families,” Duff said.
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The biggest part of the package is the gas tax holiday.
“Today we’re at $4.33 a gallon, which is down 16 cents from the peak 11 days ago, but still up 66 cents from a month ago and almost a buck fifty from a year ago,” said Alex Slatky, spokesman for AAA Northeast.
Slatky says if Connecticut lawmakers follow through, then he expects there will be relief at the pump.
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“Maryland was the first state to implement the gas tax holiday and unsurprisingly they had the biggest drop in gas prices last week,” he said.
But the devil is in the details.
“If you just flip the switch and say there’s no more tax, we have to move the gasoline that already has the tax on it out of the tanks before we can actually pass the savings along to the public,” said Chris Herb, president of the Connecticut Energy Marketers Association.
Herb says lawmakers need to credit gas stations for the gas they have in the ground.
“We’re hopeful the legislation does provide language that provides a refund or a credit to the gas station so we can immediately pass those savings on. If not, there's going to be delays at different times,” Herb said.
He says these are family-owned gas stations.
“You can’t prevent everyone from not acting properly, but the vast majority are going to make sure that their customers receive this benefit,” Herb said.
Sources tell NBC Connecticut lawmakers don’t plan to credit gas stations for the taxes they already paid on the gas they have in the ground. They say they should be able to get rid of all that supply before the tax relief kicks in on April 1.
