By CHRIS POWELL
Don’t make too much fun of Governor Lamont’s idea about suspending Connecticut’s fuel taxes while prices are soaring because of the war in the Middle East. But the idea isn’t such a boon either.
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For while money today is of course better than money later, the governor means only to finance the fuel tax break by moving state government’s money around a bit, not by reducing state government’s total tax burden. After all, he already had proposed to give $500 million in sales tax rebates to state residents, to be paid just a few days before his re-election is to be decided in November. He says the suspension of fuel taxes could be financed by reducing the sales tax rebates. The suspension of the fuel tax would just cannibalize part of the sales tax rebate promised in November.
Another option the governor sees for financing suspension of the fuel taxes is to take the money from the $500 million emergency fund he and the General Assembly created late last year to replace federal aid canceled by the Trump administration for social programs. But then whatever money is taken from the emergency fund to replace the foregone fuel tax revenue won’t be available for the social service emergencies it was appropriated for.
In a pinch state government can always cheat a little more on its pension funds, which still have $35 billion in unfunded liabilities, a deficit that dwarfs the $4 billion in state government’s “rainy-day fund,” the money Democrats are eager to spend soon, since they don’t mind pushing pension debts even deeper into the future.
But in the end the only way state government can reduce its burden on the public is to become more efficient or to spend and tax less. There are ways of doing that but none that are as easy politically as just juggling money among state government’s accounts.
PRIVACY VS. JUSTICE: State legislators are intent on restricting release of data from the license plate reader cameras that some municipalities have installed to increase enforcement of speed limits.
Some legislators want to protect privacy rights, insofar as everyone’s legal comings and goings are nobody’s business but their own, least of all government’s.
In contrast, Democratic legislators seem to want to restrict release of the data more out of fear that federal immigration authorities might use it to locate illegal immigrants. Use of the data by immigration agents seems unlikely except in pursuit of illegals suspected of the most serous offenses, but many Democrats think that facilitating illegal immigration is the highest objective of public service, higher even than facilitating abortion and transgenderism.
Most people involved with the license plate reader data issue think all data should be deleted after 30 days, which should satisfy privacy concerns.
But some police officials note that not all crimes become known to authorities within 30 days of their commission and that deletion of license plate reader data after 30 days is sure to be regretted eventually during investigations of serious crimes. Sometimes a body or other crucial evidence isn’t found in a deserted area until long after a crime. Old license plate reader data could help solve it.
Indeed, being able to discover where everyone was at the time of a crime would be a great gift to investigators and justice. But for the indefinite future the data storage necessary for that will be available only to God.
STICK WITH WILLIMANTIC: At 70 years old Windham Technical High School in that town’s Willimantic section is antiquated and needs replacement. State government owns land in nearby Mansfield that could accommodate a new school, but if one is to be built, it should remain in Willimantic.
That little impoverished city needs the traffic and economic activity, and technical students would probably find more job potential there than in Mansfield, which is rural except around the University of Connecticut campus.
Windham can make former mill property available for a new school and has a stronger claim on state government’s help.
Chris Powell has written about Connecticut government and politics for many years. (CPowell@cox.net)
Chris Powell column 