'Nobody wanted to do that.' Lamont and Fazio agree that highway tolls are dead in final debate

Tolls were declared dead six years ago. But now, in the final week of the campaign for governor, the issue is back. Ned Lamont spent his first year in office pushing for tolls on Connecticut highways. After major pushback, Lamont abandoned the idea. Now a citizens group is recommending tolls as a way to get rid of the hated car tax. But in their final debate, both candidates for governor said tolls are dead. Joe, you may have heard I actually tried something like that a while back. Nobody wanted to do that. We're not going to do that. I do not support new taxes on Connecticut residents. Connecticut residents are taxed too much already. But both sides are open to a new registration fee for electric vehicles. I think it's something we can look at. It's not going to be that big a piece of pie, but I think it makes some sense. Yes, absolutely. I voted for that in the state Senate, And I've heard EV drivers testify that they're in favor of that, too. The citizens panel also recommended consolidating school districts to bring down property taxes. Again, Lamont and Ryan Fazio said it's a non-starter. I do not believe in forced regionalization. Now, there was an effort in the state government just seven or six years ago to impose forced regionalization on our school districts. Ignore it when they say they supported forced regionalization and forced this. That's just nonsense. That's not the way we do it here in Connecticut, and that's not the way I do it. Well, Ned Lamont has the upper hand here. He leads by more than 20 points in two different polls, and more than 270,000 people have already voted early. John Craven, News 12.