Letter to representatives: Oppose the Transportation and Climate Initiative

I have one question, when is enough, enough? I am a lifelong Cheshire resident writing in opposition to the recent rejoining of TCI (Transportation and Climate Initiative) and the gas price hike that will result.

If you haven’t noticed, the taxpaying residents of this state are leaving in droves, more and more with each new tax. This strategy of creating new taxes clearly isn’t working. I’m telling you as a working-class citizen that the financial situation the state is in and the taxes imposed to “solve it” are crippling us. I get the whole “this isn’t a new tax” and emissions credit system, but it is the same difference as a tax to the working class and it won’t financially benefit our state.

First off, TCI is supposed to push people away from gasoline and toward electric vehicles. There are several problems that face our state with electric cars. One problem is Eversource.

We are absolutely being robbed by Eversource with astronomical rates. This past summer exemplifies that with issues that our state has yet to fix. So essentially you are raising the cost of fuel in the hopes that people switch to a more expensive source of power. This will not work and will give Eversource and other power companies even more of a monopoly on essentially two industries now; Power and Transportation.

Second many in our state, because of our current economic situation, can not afford expensive electric cars, so now you are pushing hard-working people further into despair. Not to mention one of the leading car manufacturers, Tesla, cannot legally be sold in Connecticut.

People are going to drive to New York, as they’re doing now, to purchase these cars and who will get the sales tax? New York, not Connecticut. Again, this is not helping the problem but worsening it.

Lastly electric cars indirectly produce emissions, too. It just occurs at the power plant level and not the personal vehicle level.

Secondly, all this revenue generated will be paid back to the oil companies as a result of a sanctioned “fee”, per se, that the oil company has passed back to us the consumer and not to the state. This gas hike will not benefit one Connecticut road or bridge, which the current gas tax allegedly does. So now you are pushing people away from gasoline, which we tax to benefit our transportation system, that is also is currently operating in a deficit, to a source of energy that does not benefit our transportation system. Where are we going to get the money for our roads and bridges when gasoline tax revenue declines? Some other new tax? No, we will not have it.

The additional cost that companies operating in Connecticut will incur will either force them to leave the state or pass along the cost to the consumer. It will again come back to us the taxpayer, like it always does. Please, there is no aspect of this initiative that will help or fix our current situation.

The middle class cannot scream any louder, we need help! Please consider these points and put Connecticut and its residents first. Pull out of TCI and help the Connecticut working class. I know that Connecticut can be stronger together. I would be available at any time to discuss this.

Michael J. Rapetski lives in Cheshire.

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