Rell Denies Election-Year Politics Are Part Of Car Tax Plan

By Susan Haigh

Associated Press

HARTFORD — Republican Governor M. Jodi Rell grabbed plenty of headlines when she unveiled plans on last week to end the much-hated local motor vehicle tax.

That publicity came as two mayors battle for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination to challenge Rell in this year’s election.

Although Rell denied last Thursday that campaign politics were behind her plan to scrap the tax, New Haven Mayor John DeStefano Jr and Stamford Mayor Dan Malloy now must find ways to blunt the governor’s first salvo in this year’s race.

“It’s going to put them on the defensive,” said Douglas Schwartz, director of the Quinnipiac Poll. “On the one hand, they don’t want to be seen as coming out against tax cuts. But she has set the debate, and so now they’re going to be on the defensive.”

Both Malloy and DeStefano issued news releases that criticized Rell’s budget. Malloy accused Rell of refusing to address serious issues, such as health care and jobs. DeStefano said his plan to modernize the state’s economic development efforts is better than Rell’s.

DeStefano said he believes voters are worried more about job creation, especially considering recent job cuts at Stop & Shop and US Repeating Arms.

“I think at the end of the day, they’re going to want to hear the candidates address how they’re going to grow jobs,” he said. “I think clearly, if you look at what’s on people’s minds, clearly it’s the state of the economy.”

Malloy is taking a similar tact. He, like some other Democrats, referred to Rell’s car tax elimination plan as a “shell game” because it calls for eliminating the existing $350 local property tax credit on the personal state income tax as a way to partially cover the cost of reimbursing towns for the lost car tax revenue.

“To be clear, I’d love to eliminate the car tax, but not if it’s just a shell game that raises taxes on homeowners, which is what this appears to be.”

He accused Rell of ignoring tax cuts that might stimulate job growth, such as taxes on manufacturing equipment and fleets of commercial vehicles — an issue he hopes will resonate with voters who are worried about the state’s job picture.

Rell said her budget does cut business taxes. She is proposing an end to the 25 percent surcharge on the corporate income tax, an across-the-board 25 percent reduction in taxes on public utilities — which would save businesses and residents an estimated $44.9 million — and tax credits for businesses that create new jobs and hire already displaced workers.

“I can only afford so many tax cuts and I wanted the one that would benefit the taxpayer the most,” Rell said of the car tax proposal.

Rell dismissed the notion that she only brought up the idea because it would be popular with many voters in an election year. She said she considered eliminating it last year, but did not have the revenues to carry out the plan.

“I know everybody thinks that this is all because of a gubernatorial race, or at least some are implying that. Some have said this is an election-year budget,” she told reporters last week. “But guess what? It’s a budget we have to put forward that happens to be in an election year.”