HARTFORD, Conn. -- Connecticut taxi drivers who converged on the State Capitol Wednesday said they want to be owners and operators of taxi companies but are being kept out of the loop by the state's larger taxi companies.

The point of the rally was to gain the support of legislators, they said.

“If I get my own registration, I can work for myself,” David Small said. “That's $300 I don't have to pay somebody else to do what I am doing now.

Small, an Enfield resident, said he’s been paying to use a taxi for 6 years and wants his own taxi company.

“I applied to the state, opposed by my boss and all the monopolies because they say, ‘We don't want you to have a cab because we cover it,’” he said.

“We believe that if you work hard, you will have a chance to send your kids to school, but instead we keep sending large taxi company owners’ kids to school,” Coalition of Independent Contractors President Antoine Scott said.

There are over 100 taxi companies in Connecticut. According to the Institute for Justice, there should be room for taxi drivers to become owners as well.

The Program Review and Investigations Committee met Wednesday to consider proposed recommendations on the state's taxi laws. Robert Mcnamara, of the Institute for Justice, said he wrote a letter for their meeting asking them to think about opening up the playing field.

“In Connecticut, it’s illegal to start your own taxi cab company unless you can prove that it would be necessary, and you can only prove it’s necessary by engaging in full-blown litigation with the other taxi cab companies,” he said. “It makes no more sense than allowing Burger King to have a say in whether a town gets a new McDonald’s.”

Taxi drivers said they’ll move forward, hopefully with support from legislators.

Several existing taxi companies in the state were called, but calls weren’t returned.