By Keith M. Phaneuf

Gov. Ned Lamont’s proposal to toll all vehicles would dramatically infuse Connecticut’s aging, overcrowded transportation infrastructure with new cash — three or four years from now.

But Lamont’s recently announced “debt diet” would immediately cancel hundreds of millions of potential borrowing for transportation — to help solve larger problems in Connecticut’s finances.

So as he urges support for tolls on Connecticut’s highways, the governor also must convince people he will keep the state’s cash-starved transportation rebuilding program afloat.

“I think scaling back right now would be catastrophic,” said Donald Shubert, president of the Connecticut Construction Industry Association.

By Keith M. Phaneuf

Gov. Ned Lamont will give with one hand and take with the other in the budget he proposes Wednesday.

Lamont will naturally stress the giving, as he did during the campaign last fall. But when it comes to taxes and fees, the scales will tip toward the taking — at least for the next two years — as the new governor attempts to wipe out about $3.5 billion in inherited red ink off Connecticut’s books.

For example, Lamont said this weekend he would consider lowering gas taxes and boosting income tax relief for the poor — but only to mitigate the pain of restoring tolls to Connecticut’s highways.

Many lawmakers expect Lamont to propose a repeal of the estate tax, something he called “an enormous giveaway to the very wealthiest” days before the November election. But they also expect him to recommend a statewide property tax on motor vehicles — which would cut taxes for most communities but boost them in affluent towns.

By Keith M. Phaneuf

UPDATE Gov. Ned Lamont today reversed himself, announcing he will propose electronic tolling on cars as well as trucks when he unveils his first state budget Wednesday.

Lamont, who insisted frequently throughout the campaign he would only support tolls on trucks, conceded in a Saturday Op-Ed piece for Hearst Connecticut Media what transportation advocates had been saying for months: tolling on trucks would not produce sufficient revenue.

“Beyond an inconvenience, the crushing congestion we experience on I-95, I-91, I-84 and the Merritt Parkway, in particular, is a real challenge we must address and overcome if we are to maximize our economic development potential,” the governor wrote. “Our proximity in mileage to New York City means nothing if it takes 90 minutes to get there from Stamford on the road, and over an hour by train.

Tolling trucks alone “would provide at least some revenue to maintain our system, though not enough to upgrade it,” Lamont added.

By Keith M. Phaneuf

Gov. Ned Lamont today unveiled his long-anticipated proposal to eliminate the business entity tax, a $250 fee nearly all Connecticut businesses pay once every two years.

The governor, who must deliver his first budget proposal to the General Assembly next Wednesday, also elaborated on his plans to digitize access to all state services.

“Over and over again, I’ve heard the same refrain — it’s not easy to do business with the state of Connecticut,” said Lamont, who pledged several times during last fall’s gubernatorial campaign to recommend repeal of the business entity tax. “How can we try to build and stabilize our economy if businesses don’t feel as if we’re listening?”

Most Connecticut businesses — more than 169,000 biennially — pay an entity tax, which raised $45 million in the 2016-17 fiscal year and $43.9 million in 2014-15, according to annual reports from the Department of Revenue Services.

By Keith M. Phaneuf

A major liberal block in the House of Representatives today unveiled a series of tax proposals that could put them at odds with Gov. Ned Lamont and other of their fellow Democrats in the legislature.

House Democratic Progressive Caucus members favor raising income taxes on rich households, and staunchly oppose repeal of the estate tax. Democrats hold 90 out of 151 seats in the House and 44 of them are in the progressive caucus.

The caucus also expressed caution over Lamont’s plans to broaden the sales tax base and to dramatically curb state borrowing, saying these also could shift costs onto low- and middle-income households.

“We’re going to act as a block that says you can’t simply be giving money to rich people,” Rep. Josh Elliott, D-Hamden, a member of the caucus, said during a midday news conference at the Capitol.