Larry Berman, spokesman for Speaker of the House Nicholas Mattiello, said Monday that it “remains to be seen” if Mattiello’s car tax elimination and Gov. Gina Raimondo’s R.I. Promise plan can coexist.

Berman revealed some of the details for the speaker’s car tax plan. He said municipal car taxes would be frozen at their current rates. Collectively those taxes generate about $215 million that would fully be reimbursed to cities and towns once the tax is fully phased out over five years.

“Cranston would be high on the list [for relief],” Berman said. “The car tax is going to be in the budget, which doesn't really get resolved until June. Speaker Mattiello is committed to making sure there is $40 million there to bring in car tax relief to the citizens of Rhode Island. Citizens would see relief right away. Our plan is to eliminate the car tax so people don’t pay those bills.”

Raimondo’s would reduce motor vehicle values to reflect their street rather than their highest value, a cut of about 30 percent in the tax. She would not completely eliminate the tax as Mattiello proposes. The governor believes the cut can be done in conjunction with opening doors to more education and business opportunities for Rhode Islanders with two years of tuition-free education at state colleges and URI.

“The governor has a detailed plan in her budget to cut every Rhode Islander’s car tax by at least 30 percent, while making record investments in education so Rhode Islanders can compete for the jobs businesses are creating,” Gov. Raimondo’s deputy press secretary Catherine Rolfe said. “She looks forward to continuing this conversation with the legislature in the coming months.”

Berman said Mattiello will examine “every aspect” of the state budget, but he does not see Gov. Raimondo’s car tax plan as “adequate enough.” Berman added that there has been some communication between the offices of the speaker and the governor, but “none of this will be resolved until probably two more months before the budget starts getting finalized between now and then.”

Berman said he has not received complaints about the speaker’s plan to eliminate the car tax. He cited two statistics to support his point. Firstly, residents of 23 states and the District of Columbia do not pay a car tax. Secondly, Berman referenced a March 1 article from WalletHub examining the highest and lowest vehicle property taxes by state.

Rhode Island ranked last in the country with an effective vehicle tax rate of 4.77 percent, more than double the next-closest New England state (Connecticut, 2.41 percent). According to the study, the annual taxes on a $23,000 car in Rhode Island amounts to $1,100.

Both the speaker and the governor appear to favor an adjustment to the car tax, but there is a disagreement on how much should be cut and how soon.

“The speaker campaigned very hard in the fall to thousands of constituents in Cranston and they all applauded him and said the car tax has to go,” Berman said. “He hasn’t heard anything negative about it. Colleagues are on board, and I think the governor is on board, she just wants to do a reduction.”

Berman said the speaker would review testimony from last week’s hearing on the governor’s college plan. His most significant concern, according to Berman, is whether the plan is an impetus to keep graduates in the state after they’ve already received the two years of free college.

“How does that help the economy if we subsidize higher education and they get jobs in these other states?” Berman asked.

Rolfe cited a local Rhode Island College study to try to allay that concern. According to Francis J. Leazes Jr. and Mikaila Mariel Lemonik Arthur, both of RIC, “two-thirds of alumni who never earned an advanced degree stayed in Rhode Island for their entire documented education and career.”