Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont has started negotiating a deal with legislative leaders to suspend the state’s 25-cent-per-gallon tax on wholesale gasoline.
Lamont said the deal would also include a sales tax holiday on clothes for a week in April, and free bus service for a month.
“Now is the time to provide immediate relief to the people of Connecticut broadly in terms of inflationary pressures, and specifically as it involves drivers getting hit at the pump,” Lamont said.
The deal would cost $90 million and would be paid for out of the state’s budget surplus. Lamont said he hopes negotiations would conclude in the next couple of days.
“We’d like to see that holiday kicking in as soon as we can, hopefully within a week. We want to make that available all the way through June 30,” Lamont said.
The GOP minority in the General Assembly had pushed for the tax cut. Senate Minority leader Kevin Kelly said he’s glad Lamont and Democrats in the majority are on board.
“I think this is a step forward to bringing much needed relief at the gas pump,” Kelly said.
AAA Northeast said the average price of gas in Connecticut is $4.47 a gallon. That’s 85 cents higher than last month and $1.57 higher than a year ago.
