Governor Ned Lamont has assured Connecticut residents that a dispute over the interpretation of a controversial tax hike on prepared meals will be resolved before the law takes effect in October.
The state’s Department of Revenue Services says consumers who buy prepared foods at grocery stores will see a new 7.35% tax on October 1. Lamont says that’s the wrong interpretation of the state budget that was negotiated this year between his Office of Policy Management and the Democrats who control the legislature.
“They saw the word grocery stores in there, and they thought that meant a certain interpretation, which was not the interpretation of OPM nor the legislature had, and we are going to rectify that.”
Lamont says his budget secretary and his state revenue commissioner will come up with a fix before October.
Senate Minority Leader Len Fasano says only lawmakers can legally fix the blunder.
“You can’t do a wink and a nod between commissioners because the legislature, to their best argument, made a mistake. You can’t leave that uncertainty with grocery stores.”
Fasano would like a special legislative session, but Lamont says that won’t be necessary.
