Treasurer pays $476.35 in overdue car taxes
Courant questioned state leader about bill
State Treasurer Shawn Wooden on Thursday paid the city of Hartford $476.35 in back taxes on a pair of motor vehicles registered to him in the capital city — after being asked about his outstanding bill by The Courant.
The bill was due Jan. 1.
The Democrat previously served as city council president before being elected as Connecticut’s top fiduciary officer last November.
“I take complete responsibility for this oversight on my January motor vehicle tax bill and paid it in full today,” Wooden said.
The city charges a 15 percent late fee for accounts with delinquent motor vehicle taxes after Jan. 1, including interest.
Wooden was charged $65.70 in fees and interest on the tax bill for the Honda Odyssey and $9.25 in interest on the Infiniti M35.
Wooden was also late paying his car taxes last summer. A bill due July 1 for the Honda was not paid until Oct. 10 and the July 1 bill for the Infiniti was paid on Sept. 13.
Wooden’s projected annual salary as state treasurer is $110,000, according to the state comptroller’s office.
He’s not the first Hartford official to owe back taxes on motor vehicles.
In January, The Courant reported that state Rep. Brandon McGee, a mayoral candidate, owed the city $1,300 in back taxes on two BMWs. He said at the time it was an oversight for one of the vehicles and that he no longer owned the other. Since then, he’s paid the bill, a search of the tax collector’s database shows.
Hartford’s mill rate on motor vehicles is $45 for every $1,000 in a vehicle’s assessed value, which is 70 percent of the full value. The rate is about four times higher than in Greenwich and is emblematic of what critics say is the inequity of Connecticut’s townby-town property tax on motor vehicles.
Neil Vigdor can be reached at nvigdor@courant.com.