Lawmakers consider potential car tax changes during special session

State lawmakers are meeting for a special two-day session in Hartford to discuss a number of bills, including changes to the state’s car tax.

The change would affect how vehicles are valued.

Now, cities and towns use the appraisal guides published by the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) as a standard.  Lawmakers will vote on legislation that would instead look at the original value, the manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP), of a car and then have a statewide standard of how that car will depreciate over time.

State Sen. Matt Lesser said they are trying to prevent what happened during the COVID pandemic when suddenly car taxes increased because the value of used cars increased.

“What we're trying to do is try to smooth that out and have a fixed depreciation schedule so your car loses value every single year and you pay less, rather than see an unexpected surprise bill where you wind up paying more because they say your car went up in value,” said Sen. Lesser, the deputy majority leader who represents Middletown, Cromwell, Newington, Rocky Hill and Wethersfield.

Lawmakers will also vote in the special session to continue requiring commercial vehicles be taxed as motor vehicles, not as a business’s personal property. This will save that business money because the car tax is capped at less than 33 mills.