The Economic Costs Of Connecticut's New Tolls

Information on new taxes and user fees is always at a premium for Connecticut Taxpayers.  Our elected officials love sending out Connecticut taxpayer funded newsletters and pamphlets before an election hailing all the great things they have done over the years.  For example, Democrat Representative Mary Mushinsky 85th District who has been in office 37 years stated two years ago in her brochure that the state budget was actually balanced (when it was not and has not been).  Mushinsky and her fellow Democrat legislators will vote in favor of new tolls for the state over the next few weeks with little details being given to the public.
The details of the new tolls (as much as I can could understand from the bill and its amendments) should shock any Connecticut Taxpayer.  Connecticut drivers would have one of the most expensive tolled roads in the country along with the highest costs of administering those tolls.  In other words it would be a Connecticut Democrat Party dream come true of this new tax that would cost Connecticut Taxpayer drivers anywhere from $2000 to $5000 a year for the privilege of driving in our state.  Any where from 72 to 112 tolls could be placed along all of Connecticut's roads at a cost of between 10 and 20 cents per mile.  Congestion pricing would take place during peak times.  In my own personal example of my daily commute from Wallingford to Milford if I were to take my normal routes of I91/95 or the Merritt Parkway would cost me around $6 a day for my round trip or an additional $30 a week, roughly $1500 a year.  When I drive to Gateway Community College in New Haven  to teach my weekly class 32 times a year that drive will cost me another $4 round trip or additional $128 a year bringing just my basic commute to work up to $1628 a year not counting any other driving my wife and I do during the year.  My rough estimate based on our current driving patterns will cost another $1000 a year or more bringing my costs of the new toll tax to over $2600 a year.  If I choose not to get an EZ pass and or an automated toll reader for my vehicles I will be charged 50% more for the same tolls.  I wonder how much we will paying to buy these units for our vehicles?
Any road service company in the state will pay thousands more to service vehicles and road calls.  Any transportation company will have massive costs added to their services thus raising the costs of what they charge companies in the state.  UPS and Fed Ex will be adding toll surcharges to their home and business deliveries.  The general cost of living and doing business in Connecticut will increase by around $1 billion dollars yearly.  This figure is derived by $600 million dollars or more in the new toll tax being paid for by Connecticut Taxpayer drivers and businesses along with approximately $400 million in those same costs being passed along through higher prices for all goods and services bought and used by consumers and businesses due to the new toll tax. Businesses will not be able to absorb this new toll tax due to all of the other taxes and high costs of doing business in this state which include high electric costs, high workers compensation costs, and high fuel taxes that they pay already  It will be a vicious cycle of inflation and a much higher cost of living in the state represented by this new toll tax.
The costs to run this program according to the CDM Smith report would be an astounding $157 million per year with installation costs being in the range of $450 to $600 million dollars (all work would have to be completed by union contractors thus increasing the costs of this project).  Who pays for this is unknown as I can not derive this from the bill.  
The next question will be where will all of this new toll tax money go to?  I do not think it will go to road and bridge improvement as other taxes set out to do the same (Connecticut's secret gross earnings tax on gasoline for example) even though this new toll tax is being viewed as the cure all for improving our decaying and deplorable road and bridge system in our state.  The costs to administer this new toll tax are enormous and have to be met before any new revenue is derived. However in my opinion there is no guarantee that any of this money will end up improving our road and bridge systems but will be diverted to the state's general fund slush fund as has been the norm for years now.
Connecticut is an economic decline due to its high taxes.  The new toll tax should further its economic decline even more so than before.  How much more can Connecticut Taxpayers absorb in the cost of living in this state?  How much more can Connecticut businesses absorb in the cost of doing business in this state?
Why would anyone want to vote for any Connecticut Democrat candidate in this upcoming election based on this toll tax?  Connecticut voters really need to understand the economic costs of keeping the Connecticut Democrat Party in power any longer when examining this new toll tax.  Connecticut's economic path is no longer economically sustainable.

Connecticut's New Tolls:Protest Against Bills #389 and #5391

Connecticut's government really can never get enough money to run a streamlined and efficient operation.  If one looks at the total disrepair of its bridges and roads an argument can be made as to where did the $2,266,955,203.52 the Connecticut Department of Transportation spent in fiscal year 2016-17 actually go to?  Examining the very complex DOT budget is a difficult task with money being channeled in many different ways in general terms.  Thus it is nearly impossible to see the money flow that is actually used to maintain our bridge and road system in the state.  Taxpayers do know Connecticut has one of the highest budgets for transportation in the country along with one of the highest administrative costs to run this department in the country.
Now Connecticut Taxpayers are trying to grasp two new legislative raised bills that enact tolls that are estimated to produce $1 billion dollars in toll revenue, 72% which would be paid by Connecticut residents.  The raised bills are: # 389 "AN ACT ESTABLISHING THE CONNECTICUT TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY."  To establish the Connecticut Transportation Authority to develop and implement electronic tolling systems., and raised bill #5391 "AN ACT CONCERNING TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE." To require the Commissioner of Transportation to conduct studies and satisfy other requirements pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act for the purposes of developing electronic tolling systems on the highways of this state.  This Transportation Authority would have the ability to install tolls, collect toll revenue, borrow money, own and lease land, and manage maintenance and construction on tolled highways.  The new authority would have a 15 member board of directors that is appointed both directly and indirectly by the Governor.  The hope for the Connecticut Democrat Party is that they can pass these bills in this current short session, enact immediately the Commission, and make 15 Democrat political patronage appointments to run the Commission.  It is a socialist's dream Commission.  Political appointees telling Connecticut drivers and Taxpayers how much they will be paying for tolls.  State politicians seen to have forgotten how much already Connecticut drivers and Taxpayers pay in gasoline/diesel taxes, tire taxes, road use taxes and other miscellaneous taxes for the privilege of driving on our horrific bridge and road system.  There seems to be little result in the monies being used to maintain our current bridge and road system thus why we are going to be taxed more with no guarantee that the money will actually be used to maintain our bridge and road system?  To me it is a way to extract another $750,000,000 or more tax monies from Connecticut Taxpayers in now new tolls and still not have any guarantees that our bridge and road system would be improved and or maintained.
Connecticut Taxpayers need to protest again raised bills #389 and #5391.  Why should Connecticut Taxpayers allow yet a new politically motivated agency to be formed that will only further the economic demise of this state along with increasing its costs of living?  Enough is enough.

Connecticut's Lack Of Fairness To Its Remaining Taxpayers

In his last State of the Union address, Governor Dan Malloy embarked upon a typical liberal Connecticut Democrat progressive and utopian vision of tolls everywhere, much higher and new taxes along with the same rhetoric of affordable mandated health care, higher minimum wages along with a much lengthier paid family leave law.  He threw in the usual cuts in municipal aid to "wealthier" towns to give more more money to the Democrat run economically failing cities such as Hartford, Bridgeport and New Haven.  The broken down XL Center gets yet more money to prop it open.  He harped on these liberal concepts as part of a "Connecticut Fairness" plan which ties in with the Connecticut Democrat Party plan of a "Values Agenda" (whatever that may be). Not a word was mentioned in his speech about the budget deficits nor the massive amount of short and long term debt along with unfunded liabilities the state has in 2018.
Malloy thus has spent both terms as Governor raising taxes and forcing an even more failed liberal agenda upon the remaining Connecticut Taxpayers left in the state.  Does he realize how bad the state's economy is and that we are still yet out of the recession?`
But the question must be asked after listening to this speech is "How is this budget fair to Connecticut Taxpayers?" In my analysis all this new budget does is once again raises taxes, makes driving in Connecticut especially expensive with a seven cent increase in the gas tax tax along with congestion price tolls on all highways and secondary roads in the state and expands taxes elsewhere.  The new budget keeps up social welfare programs for those in the state here illegally along with a much higher minimum wage (which will eliminate more jobs in the state).  Why does "Fairness" apply in this budget only to those who are politically connected such as state labor unions, the ruling political hierarchy and those here in the state illegally?  What happened to "Fairness" to those who are legal citizens of the state and pay an excessive amount of state taxes to live here?  Are they not entitled to any benefits of state government?  And how has this Connecticut Democrat Party liberal agenda worked so far in the state since the Malloy Administration began in 2011?  Haven't we seen an enormous amount of businesses and citizens move out of the state since 2011?  How many tax increases has the state had? Why is the short and long term debt along with unfunded liabilities of the state now $60 to $80 billion dollars, a massive increase since 2011?  What is the plan to pay off this debt? 
Fairness does not exist in the Connecticut Democrat Party in 2018.  This budget is a cesspool of higher taxes and failed programs that can only further the economic decline of the state.  It is economic garbage.  Yet this is the liberal agenda that the Connecticut Democrat Party will be running upon throughout the state in the upcoming elections this November.  And this why all Democrats need to be voted out of office on election day from top to bottom.  Dan Malloy's policies have failed completely since 2011.  The Connecticut Democrat Party's policies have failed completely since 2011.   Enough is enough.

Connecticut's Government Lacks Exceptionalism

Exceptionalism is defined as "the condition of being different from the norm; also : a theory expounding the exceptionalism especially of a nation or region."  Connecticut's government lacks exceptionalism.  If anything Connecticut's government is a mediocre self serving instrument of those individuals and groups that have political connections to those in power in Hartford.  Its only concern is to nurture and develop what has failed in the past only to be restated as the new better idea even though that same idea has meet with disaster in the past.
Tolls and higher taxes are the new in words for failed Governor Malloy this week.  Further proving our state government's lack of exceptionalism we are now going to turn to tolls on our state roads in the theory that some out-of-state drivers will pay for these tolls(even though reports and studies indicate 70% of the tolls will be paid for by state drivers) and higher gas taxes.  One could argue that Connecticut drivers pay an extraordinary amount of taxes for the privilege of driving on Connecticut's horrific road and bridge system.   For example drivers pay already pay 39.3 cents per gallon in a state gas tax, a fee to buy their drivers license, a tax to register their vehicles each year, the already enacted state tire fee when one buys a new tire, and the property taxes that you must pay when you own a vehicle.  This new toll revenue will supposedly be directed to improve and maintain our road and transportation system in the state.  I wonder where all the revenues goes from the various taxes drivers pay already?  Obviously not to road and bridge repair and maintenance.
Connecticut's government lacks exceptionalism especially when we have had already the two largest tax increases in the states history during the failed Malloy Administration.  Connecticut's government lacks exceptionalism especially when most state agencies when asked by the states budget director what recommendations could be made to cut spending in their agencies replied by suggesting nothing or failed to reply at all, while some recommended increasing spending instead.  To me this proves that these highly paid state agency directors are clueless in both running their agencies and in understanding the magnitude of Connecticut's budget crisis.  Not one of them was willing to take a pay or benefit cut to help the state.  In private industry these same people would be fired for their lack of action and ineptness in management.
The Connecticut state budget crisis continues unabated.  We hear the same rhetoric of some sort of new tax and or fee placed on Connecticut Taxpayers will solve the same problems that have yet to have been solved with all of the taxes and fees the state has already.  Silence is heard when wanting to examine and address both management and union salaries, benefits and pensions.  This sacred and cherished part of our state government fully funded by Connecticut Taxpayers may never be spoken of and or reformed.   
Yes, Connecticut's Government lacks exceptionalism.  And yes it has failed Connecticut Taxpayers.  New taxes and tolls help to advance the Connecticut Democrat Party agenda of a failed economy but continues to protect those who own this rigged system of government.

Connecticut's Only Concern:Salaries, Benefits, Pensions and Debt

For those who are actually able to decipher Connecticut's state budget and short and long term debt issues one may want to put a for sale sign in front of their house immediately and move.  For those of us who choose to fight both parties and remain to take back Connecticut this year one must comprehend the economic Armageddon that may take place if spending is not brought under control.  Currently Connecticut has between $60 and $80 billion dollars in short and long term debt along  with unfunded liabilities.  For every $1 of tax money raised .35 cents of it goes to salaries, benefits, pension and debt.  That means .65 cents is allowed to be spent for actual operations of the state.  Thus one may see more clearly the economic mess the state is in since 1/3 of the state budget is spent only on salaries, benefits, pensions and debt.  To further the economic short fall in the future state pensions have accelerated at massive pace.  According to a recent report and article issued by the Hartford Courant and the Yankee Institute there are now over 1400 former state employees who receive pensions of over $100,000 a year in 2016 as compared to just 110 former state employees eight years ago.  Connecticut state employee pensions can include overtime worked along with car and travel expenses to boost up this amount.  The IRS defines the highest pension that can be received is $215,000.  This does not matter to former UConn business professor John F. Viega who gets over $300,000 a year in his pension.  His pension violates IRS law but nothing is done about it.  This is not allowed in the private sector where most employees must be enrolled in a 401K type pension along with their meager amount of Social Security they receive.  The private sector pension benefits are minimal compared to the generous Connecticut Taxpayer funded benefits that have helped enrich Connecticut's political ruling class for years now. 
Connecticut candidates for Governor especially on the Democrat side have avoided the subject of every $1 of tax money raised .35 cents of it goes to salaries, benefits, pension and debt.  They choose to look for new ways to raise taxes the most common Utopian one being car and truck tolls everywhere in the state.  Connecticut already has one the highest tax rates in the country with little to show for it so I guess the economic logic is raise them even more than they are now.  Don't bother to reign in the every $1 of tax money raised .35 cents of it goes to salaries, benefits, pension and debt.  That might impact Connecticut's political ruling class and their dictatorial rule in our state economy. 
Connecticut has a complete economic disconnect in its state government.  While many of Connecticut's middle class struggle to survive and while many of Connecticut's super rich move out of state to low tax states like Florida and the Carolina's, Connecticut's political rulers just keep making excuses to raise taxes more to nurture the economic quagmire that continues unabated. 
Something has to give.  There needs to be a complete overhaul of Connecticut's union and non union salary, benefits and pension system and structure.  Connecticut can not survive in the long run spending the amount it does on union and non union salaries, benefits and pensions.  It can not keep borrowing to survive.  No amount of new or higher taxes can raised to offset this excess of spending.  Connecticut will cease to exist as we know it if spending is not brought under control.  And no amount of failed Connecticut Democrat Party Liberalism can save them this election year.