The Day is now the fourth Connecticut newspaper to print an opinion piece claiming that out-of-state trucks travel through Connecticut for free. This not true. In your editorial, “Tolling only viable choice to pay for Connecticut’s transportation needs,” (July 20), you wrote, “Tolls have the advantage of generating revenues from the millions of trucks and cars that travel through Connecticut but never stop for a fill-up and so contribute nothing toward maintaining those highways.” 

I hope that The Day will also become the fourth newspaper to print a letter briefly outlining the systems that allow Connecticut to collect about $26 million to $30 million per year from out-of-state trucks. 

Through Connecticut’s participation in the International Fuel Tax Agreement (IFTA), the state collects fuel use tax from out-of-state trucks that drive on Connecticut highways, regardless of where the fuel was purchased. It does not have to be purchased in Connecticut. The out-of-state truckers pay fuel use taxes based on the fuel that they use while traveling in Connecticut. They pay at the same rate as anyone else paying the diesel tax in Connecticut, which is currently 43.9 cents per gallon. 

Through Connecticut’s participation in the International Registration Plan (IRP), out-of-state truckers pay their fair share of vehicle registration fees to Connecticut based on their travel in the state. They pay apportioned registration fees based on the percentage of their total miles driven in the state. 

Out-of-state trucks do not travel through Connecticut for free. 

Joseph R. Sculley

President, Motor Transport Association of CT

Hartford