Bysiewicz Launches War on Working Families With Call for $3 Billion a Year in Tolls.

Public policy has never been in Susan Bysiewicz’s comfort zone.  The Middletown Democrat has been emphasizing her preference for politics over substance as she explores a race for governor. The former secretary of state made a plan to raise impose $3 billion a year in tolls a staple of if her thin platform.

The Bysiewicz billions would mean so many tolls drivers would be paying them at the end of their street. To collect $3 billion a year in Connecticut would require a charge of more than 10 cents a mile. The regressive tax would strain the finances of working families and low income residents. The Bysiewicz burden means drivers–most of them Connecticut residents–would pay $8.2 million a day in tolls to reach the $3 billion annual take. The plan would also result in a reduction of federal highway assistance the state receives under the formula that  compensates states without tolls.

As talk of tolls escalates into cloud cuckoo land, candidates and voters should remember that border tolls are not permitted. To raise $3 billion a year in tolls will require toll collection devices throughout the state.

Bysiewicz appears to be about to embark on her third race for governor, her eighth statewide campaign. She ought to know more about the consequences of her proposal to impose a regressive tax on millions of Connecticut residents.