The recent op-ed by Senators Kelly and Formica, "Connecticut must do more as inflation grows," (June 26), implies that taxes were “over-collected.” They further suggest that giving money away will somehow make living in Connecticut much more affordable. They are wrong on both counts. These are the same folks who demanded that highway tolls would be a tax on Connecticut residents, not additional revenue from out-of-state drivers. All of the surrounding states have figured out how to make this work. Perhaps we would not need the additional tax on diesel fuel if we had highway tolls? Connecticut has huge pension liabilities ($40 billion), highways to fix and disasters to clean up (i.e., hurricanes). For the first time in many administrations, Connecticut has a surplus that can be used to address the issues listed above as well as help the most disadvantaged citizens in the state. Perhaps revisiting highway tolls would be a better use of their time than providing extremely minor cost savings for the people of Connecticut.

Gregory McIntire

East Lyme