Unfortunately, and just like all politicians, he knows his constituents are stupid enough fall for this, because they keep re-electing him

/

Stupid is as stupid does

So, he’d suspend the gas tax (not repeal, just hide it in the closet for the moment, ready to come roaring back) and tax consumers the same amount, or more, but pretend that a so-called “windfall profits” won’t be passed on to customers.

Connecticut’s own politicians discovered just how stupid their voters were way back in 1980 when they too passed a windfall profits tax with a provision that they knew would be struck down barring oil companies from passing it along. That provision is long gone, of course, but tax is still with us, 46 years later.

Here’s Grok’s summary:

No, Connecticut’s so-called windfall profits tax on oil companies has never been repealed. It remains in effect today as the Petroleum Products Gross Earnings Tax (codified in Connecticut General Statutes Chapter 227, §§ 12-587 et seq.).

Here’s the history that matches what you described:

  • The tax was enacted in 1980 as part of Public Act 80-71 (effective in 1981 during the second oil crisis). It was originally a 2% tax on the gross earnings of companies distributing, refining, or importing petroleum products in the state (the rate has since risen, with adjustments and caps over the years, currently around 7–8.1% on certain products with some exemptions).

  • The original legislation included (or was accompanied by) a provision explicitly intended to prevent oil companies from passing the tax through to consumers in the form of higher prices. Lawmakers framed it as a way to make the oil companies absorb the cost.

  • As predicted at the time, that anti-pass-through restriction was quickly struck down by a federal district court (1980 ruling by Judge M. Joseph Blumenfeld) as an unconstitutional interference with interstate commerce.

    Despite the court ruling invalidating the pass-through ban, the legislature never repealed the underlying tax itself. Instead, it has kept the tax in place for over 45 years, expanded its scope in some ways, added various exemptions (e.g., for certain heating fuels, biodiesel blends, aviation fuel), adjusted the rate and base over time, and continued to collect revenue from it. It now helps fund the Special Transportation Fund, among other things.

  • There have been occasional legislative proposals to repeal or replace it (e.g., converting it to a straight per-gallon tax or eliminating it outright), but none have succeeded. The tax remains on the books and is still being collected.