HARTFORD, CT – The Senate added the previously deceased motor vehicle tax repeal legislation into a bill on tax assessments Wednesday evening, but the amended bill must go back to the House for approval with the clock winding down on the 2024 legislative session.
Sen. John Fonfara, D-Hartford, said that the assessment system for property taxes in the state is “unfair and unfortunate,” and that it is unequal as to the effect it has in different towns and communities.
He proposed an amendment to House Bill 5172, which originally would have altered the rate at which motor vehicles are assessed for property taxes. The amendment brings back a concept familiar to the legislature – Senate Bill 450, an act phasing in a repeal of the motor vehicle property tax. SB 450 was a bill promoted by Sen. MD Rahman, who had chaired the task force that explored the concept last year.
“In the ‘Land of Steady Habits,’ and sometimes what I call the ‘Land of Bad Habits,’ it’s hard for us to make decisions,” Fonfara said. “I believe five years from now, 10 years from now, there will be those that say ‘What do you mean we taxed motor vehicles?'”
Fonfara’s amendment would give towns and cities in the state the option to exempt motor vehicles from the property tax, which currently assesses all motor vehicles at a flat taxable rate of 70%.
Under the amended bill, towns that opted to exempt motor vehicles in their town from being tax assessable would be permitted to use a five-year phase-in plan in order to offset the possible losses of revenue. This was a provision that was part of the motor vehicle tax bill that died in the Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee – of which Fonfara is the co-chair – earlier this session.
Fonfara said that the amendment is permissive in nature and gives towns the ability to assess and vote on how to proceed with the car tax.
“We are an outlier in this country of states that have a car tax,” he said.
The bill must now head back to the House for approval on the senator’s amendment. The deadline for bills to be passed is midnight tonight.
